Sound Branding in Public Sector
Public Marketing: 5 experts in the magazine interview and 2 of these from comevis 🎉, explore how public players can benefit from auditory assets in marketing.
Focus on city marketing & brand communication
If someone knows how city, mood & music are connected, then it's us Cologne people! 😉
4 aspects in an interview with Stephan & Björn
Stephan Vincent Nölke, Managing Director, comevis GmbH & Co. KG, Cologne,
Björn Wegener, Musicologist & Acoustic Ecology Consultant, comevis, Cologne
✅ 1. To what extent does a sound contribute to the branding of a destination, city, cultural institution, university and/or public authority?
Virtually all communication is audible, especially in our digital world! Like other businesses, city, university and cultural institutions use digital touchpoints to communicate with their various audiences. The area of "classic" telephony benefits from an individual auditory service design just as much as a professionally staged campaign (from social media to radio to TV) or innovative solution approaches such as specially developed apps or voice bots. The good news is that a uniquely defined sonic code can be integrated into all existing and future requirement profiles and adapted to the primary communication channels according to the situation.
"In the context of digital transformation, we focus on the aspect of app-based control and how acoustic branding and the customer journey can be automated, digitized and made easy to use!"
Stephan Vincent Nölke, expert for auditory digitization & winner of the Cologne Entrepreneur Award
✅ 2. What are the advantages of a brand sound?
Sound is considered by scientists to be the number one memory medium. A brand sound ensures recognition and differentiation within visual communication, but also in non-visual communication (e.g. user experience/customer experience). In the sense of a brand experience, it contributes to an emotional bond and to the image building of brands and services. By brand sound we mean the effective combination of audio and voice, which represents the acoustic counterpart to the visual CD/CI and makes the communication unique and memorable. But also abstract communication goals such as sustainability and brand values (purpose) can be translated into sound.
Excursus: This is what a declaration of love for the city sounds like
"Et gitt kei Wood, dat sage künnt Wat ich föhl - wann ich an Kölle denk." ❤️😍🥰😍❤️
Means: "There is no word which could describe what I feel - when I think of Cologne."
✅ 3. What is the ideal brand sound and what should it sound like?
Every touchpoint/use case has its own individual sound requirements! For strategically successful acoustic brand profiling, however, a jingle, a voice, or a brand song is no longer sufficient today. The exponential growth of digital interfaces today requires communication that is tailored to the target group and touchpoint, which means that the factors of diversity and flexibility are always at the heart of the acoustic experience. The Brand Experience (BX), for example, may require different auditory communication than the Customer Experience (Service). With a view to future developments, we are already working with A.I.-based analysis and management tools, for compliant brand and service communication.
"Not every brand needs a sound logo, but taking an acoustic stance and recognizable positioning is a must!"
Björn Wegener
Musicologist & Acoustic Ecology Consultant
✅ 4. What should actors keep in mind when developing a brand sound?
No brand sound without a sonic code (DNA). Before developing a sound that conforms to the brand, an acoustic foundation is needed to implement the brand in a successful, sustainable, and applicable way. With the sonic code, an acoustic set of rules is created, which can be referred to for any acoustic brand application. Our experience has also shown that the full acoustic potential of acoustic brand management can only be exploited with a consistent and long-term approach. Guidelines and training should therefore be followed, as should consistent use across touchpoints. But here, too, there is good news: our specially developed "C-Cloud Application Suite" already supports municipalities and public institutions with practical analysis, content management tools and Do It Yourself solutions.