Welcome to the Sound In Marketing Podcast. I'm your host, Jeanna Isham, owner and founder of Dreamr Productions and Sound in Marketing Learning. I create, consult and educate individuals and brands on the power of sound in marketing. The Sound In Marketing Podcast exists as a resource for those wanting to up their marketing game exponentially, by simply thinking a little differently.
My real heart is focusing on my fellow small to medium sized businesses, and the potential sound strategy has for their brand marketing. Sound can give that extra boost needed to effectively compete with bigger business competitors, especially within the newness of sensorial marketing. Everyone will figure this out eventually. Hopefully this podcast helps you get ahead of the crowd. If the content in these episodes inspire ideas for your company, don't hesitate to give me a call.
Dreamr Productions helps brands make sound on purpose. We'd love to help you too. Now on to the show. In this episode, we'll be talking about sound in the shopping experience. Have you ever noticed the music while you were shopping? Any kind of shopping? Just think about it. What music was or wasn't playing? How did it make you feel? Or if you didn't realize it in the moment? How does it make you feel now? What we listen to while shopping matters and it affects our experience.
Whether you have ever been aware of it or not. Music matters. For example, when you are at an Italian restaurant, you expect to hear Italian music. Is it because Italian food can only exist paired with Italian music? Of course not. Hearing Italian music with Italian food just feels right. It creates a more sincere connection to what you are doing at that moment. Eating Italian food. What about at the grocery store?
In 1982, Ronald E Milliman did a study on the effect of background music on the behavior of shoppers in supermarkets. The result? When music was slowed down, people moved slower and higher sales were reported. When the music sped up. People moved faster and sales decreased. What about a mall? Step back into the 90s or even pre 2020 for just a second. And remember that that used to be the place to hang out.
There were always a ton of people loitering around and tons of things happening simultaneously. However, other than buying a pretzel at Wetzel's Pretzels or an Orange Julius man, I miss those. There wasn't a lot of buying happening, but there was a lot of sound. It was loud and it was chaotic and distracting. The cacophony of it all added to the overwhelming nature of a big shopping mall. What little money I might have had at that time. Babysitting money didn't stretch terribly far.
Needed to be strategically spent to stretch as far as it could. It was hard to decide with all the choices, what was the right spend to spend. I would either window shop the whole time or leave with a few pennies left in my pocket. The noise only confused me, as it was as scattered as the plethora of goods being served.
What if retailers had realized what some businesses are realizing now, that being more mindful of the music they played and the sounds they made in their shops could better determine how much revenue they could make that day or week or month or year. I decided to get an opinion on this from the Financial District. My name is Matt Houghton. I'm the director of digital and integrated marketing for Interac Corporation.
Interac partnered with the sonic branding agency Sixième Son to explore how sound could make a difference in spending. I'm Val Fleur. I'm the managing director and head of strategy for Sixième Canada. Basically, what we do at Sixième is we develop sonic ecosystem for brands to ensure that through sound and music and through voice, we can build their attribution awareness and create more impact. This was no ordinary pairing. Although Interac is about making money.
Their overarching mission has a bit more heart to it. Interac’s Mission is to create value exchange among Canadians. Interac came to life through the leading Canadian financial institutions to offer universal solution for debit payment products. We touched the lives of pretty much every Canadian on an almost daily basis. They're using Interac for debit, or if they're sending money through E-transfer, they're using Interac.
They most recently used music to do a very counterintuitive and counter-cultural thing. Matt, along with his team, partnered with Sixième Son to create a curated music playlist to be more mindful while they were spending. Our brand platform is about when you're in control of your money, you get more out of life. I remember when you came up and said, can you create a track that would allow people to spend more mindfully?
We thought the challenge was super, super interesting and also doing studies over the years. It was a good way for us to go back and say, hey, what are the factors music wise, that are affecting our purchase behaviors? We started to collect those studies and build our own roadmap
to start composing this this sound shopping track. (music playing) We have worked previously (music playing) with the team at Sixième Son to create a sonic identity for our brand, (music playing) and through that relationship, I think it's just exposed us as a team (music playing) and enlightened us more about the role of sound (music playing) and the role of music, and what that can mean for a brand. (music playing) The music you hear in stores (music playing)
is scientifically created to make you spend money. (music playing) Our payment products and services are based on using your own money. (music playing) It's debits and e-transfer. (music playing) It's not about credit. (music playing) It's about the feeling of confidence that you get (music playing)
from that empowerment of being in control. (music playing) And it might seem really odd for a company that makes its money (music playing) when people pay for things that we would have that message, (music playing) but it really comes from a genuine place, (music playing) and that's really where the idea came from. (music playing) Wanting to help people be mindful of how they spend (music playing) and how they shop, and then starting to understand (music playing)
that these shopping experiences are often just the opposite of that. (music playing) Music that's engineered to make you be impulsive. (music playing) Being (music playing) mindful of our spending is not something we're really taught. (music playing) Phrases I'm familiar with are ‘you deserve this’, and ‘do what feels good’. (music playing) Neither of these are really helpful when you are on a budget, (music playing)
which is or should be all of us all the time. (music playing) What Interac and Sixième Son created was a loopable track (music playing) that the user listened to through headphones as they shopped. (music playing) The intention was to slow them down (music playing) and be more mindful and aware of what they were doing. (music playing) We commissioned some studies with it so that we could really feel confident (music playing)
that this was tangible, and it was having an effect on people. (music playing) We did a test group where people were listening to the track (music playing) that Val and the team made for us, versus listening to type of music (music playing) you would hear in the store, and the results were extraordinary. (music playing)
98% of people felt good about their purchases. (music playing) They were reporting they were three times more likely to feel calm (music playing) while they shopped, when they listened to it. (music playing) People were showing real interest in wanting these kind of tools. (music playing) Shoppers that were aged between 25 to 34 (music playing) spend 38% less while listening to the track. (music playing) To me, that's quite striking. (music playing) I mean, they felt calm (music playing)
because when you listen to the track, it's calmer, it's not super upbeat. (music playing) It's a great contrast to those popular tracks, (music playing) with most of the time have actually a negative effect on people. (music playing) It felt good doing this project and, you know, making something (music playing) that we genuinely thought could really help people if they took advantage of it. (music playing) So that's what was really interesting was the stability. (music playing)
I think that it gave people the sort of the general calm and peace of mind. (music playing) It gave them to just make the decisions that were right for them. (music playing) Our world is fast. (music playing) It's important to slow down and be aware of what we are doing once in a while. (music playing) In order to ensure that we are actually living the life worth living. (music playing) I think anyone in marketing (music playing)
for sure recognizes authenticity is job one. (music playing) There's so many examples of how to do that wrong a lot recently, (music playing) and I think especially when you start to intersect with values (music playing) and what your brand may stand for and what you represent. (music playing) And there's some real cautionary tales in the world of marketing and large brands. (music playing) Personally, any brand that helps me to be mindful (music playing)
of my money wins my business every time. (music playing) And you better believe I'll stick with them as they stuck with me. (music playing) Whenever a brand genuinely cares. (music playing) They are setting themselves apart in a very good way. (music playing) Payments are transaction and there's such a coldness to that. (music playing) We really feel that there has to be more to it than that. (music playing)
Better business is not just about ‘buy my stuff’. (music playing) It's about serving the consumer and the community with what (music playing) they actually need, rather than what you want them to need. (music playing) In the long run. (music playing) This service drives better long term sales. (music playing) It's a bit of an ethos of with the best light (music playing)
you can afford, and I really personally aligned with that. (music playing) Life is rich with experiences and meaningful interactions (music playing) and being in service to others and really living a life of value. (music playing) I feel like that's what we're missing sometime in this society in general. (music playing) We are striving for more efficiency and more speed (music playing)
and everything to be super seamless. (music playing) But we also know that when you spend wisely, (music playing) when you spend meaningfully, there's a real payoff to that. (music playing) And it helps you feel good and feel confident. (music playing) And you know the role of music in that equation. (music playing)
It's really cool. (music playing) And it wasn't for us just about, hey, let's make this crazy song with Sixième Son. (music playing) Although I will say, as a marketer, it's like been by far (music playing) the most unique project I've worked on. (music playing) Sound matters. In one study, just lowering the volume (music playing) of the music in grocery stores increased the feeling of relaxation in shoppers (music playing)
and resulted in an increase of healthier food purchases. (music playing) The higher the volume of the music, the higher the customer's excitement (music playing) and agitation grew. (music playing) This resulted in more unhealthy food purchases. (music playing) If shoppers are swayed by healthy and unhealthy choices, couldn't (music playing)
they also be swayed into making good and bad purchasing decisions in general? (music playing) Genuinely being active and invested in the category of financial literacy (music playing) and financial confidence, I think that's important. (music playing) So we're making that connection for people with sound shopping. (music playing) The track is a great example of that. (music playing) Authenticity comes in all forms. (music playing)
Authentic sound is just a part of the bigger puzzle of sincere marketing. (music playing) Another real factor in creating that purposeful (music playing) sound for your company is that marketing is changing. (music playing) The world is changing. (music playing) Our world is very, very saturated visually. (music playing)
It's important to start engaging in different ways with our audiences. (music playing) I’m bummed to see CEO’s who (music playing) don't understand the power of sound and the power of that emotional engagement (music playing) that I think brands (music playing) need to create a different aspiration and different relationship. (music playing) We need to find different ways to engage and talk (music playing) and feel understood and clearly understood. (music playing)
And it goes back to proof points. (music playing) It's something to say what you want to do or what you stand for, (music playing) but it's better to give your clients real tools (music playing) that would allow them to experience the brand for real. (music playing) And typically, the sound shopping track is exactly as you know. (music playing) This is who I am. This is my brand positioning. (music playing)
I want you to feel in control. (music playing) But now here is a track that was tailor made for you (music playing) to actually live our brand platform. (music playing) And that's again, very unique. (music playing) The world of marketing is bigger now than it was 30 and 40 years ago. (music playing) The platforms available to us (music playing) and the means of communication out there is staggering. (music playing)
Now is the time to find new ways to relate and connect to our consumers. (music playing) I think everyone understands the visual elements of a brand, (music playing) the tonal elements of what you say and how you sound, (music playing) and the consistency of language and words, but the whole layer of sound (music playing) and sonic on top of that is so meaningful for (music playing)
how you resonate, how you're familiar, what you mean to an audience. (music playing) It's just been such a cool and enlightening experience (music playing) working with the team at Sixième Son to do this, and then extend that into a project (music playing) like Sound Shopping. We have the perfect partner. Thank you to my guests, Matt Houghton of Interac and Val Fleur of Sixième Son for their great insights on the world of sound in the shopping experience.
Also, thank you for sharing your lovely music track that we've been enjoying in the background throughout this episode. Special thanks also to ArtList for the sound effects and music examples. Did you like what you heard? Great! Leave a review, tell a friend and spread the word. More people should know about this stuff. I know you know that now. Want to explore your sound strategy further? I would love to help. Send me an email at [email protected], and we can continue this
off platform. For further resources, learning and content. Check out Sound In Marketing Learning for your one stop sound shop. All links will be provided in the show. Notes. Let's make this world of sound more intriguing, more unique, and more and more on brand.