Jodi Krangle

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Jodi@VoiceoversAndVocals.com

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Interview with Sonic Branding Strategist & CEO of Pirate Group Inc., Tom Eymundson – Part 2

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This is the second part of my interview with Tom Eymundson. This part dives in deeper to the bigger necessity of having an audio brand. This audio brand is the connective tissue to your customers. Tom really lays out for us how important an audio brand is as we move into this next decade.

We discuss:

  • The brands Tom has worked with that really stuck out to him
  • His big brand collaborations- Koodo, Porter Airlines
  • The way that Porter Airlines has used a champagne flute ping in their audio branding
  • The piece of jazz Porter Airlines acquired and where Porter plays their sonic branding (on commercials and when you get on their airplanes)
  • Cobranding with different pieces of audio
  • The difference between sonic branding and a piece of music
  • The danger of leveraging someone else’s music to tap into an emotional connection with your audience
  • Branding being an even more important piece of business as more startups are being created
  • How businesses are being judged on their audio branding now more than ever
  • The NEED for connecting with your customers as a business
  • Brands creating their own mix tapes to connect with their customers
  • Sound as a key component to expressing the quality of your brand
  • The upcoming need of becoming more and more sound proficient as a brand
  • How one company is using dynamic music in a phone app
  • Mastercard’s new audio soundscape and adding in a sound for your transactions online
  • Moving toward having companies create transactional sounds and partnerships between companies
  • The time it takes for something in audio to become memorable
  • Tom’s current project – doing phase 3 of testing with a lottery company
  • All the backend that has to happen for audio branding to be done well
  • The cost of creating a really great audio brand
  • Using a piece of music versus a human voice
  • Marketing and explaining to companies how important an audio brand can be
  • The longevity of an audio brand
  • McDonald’s success with their audio brand
  • How audio branding is your handshake on the way out the door

 

If you want to find more information about Pirate Group Inc, you can find them:

On their website: www.piratetoronto.com

On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/piratetoronto

On Instagram: www.instagram.com/pirate_toronto

On LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/pirate-radio-&-television/

On Twitter: https://twitter.com/piratetoronto

 

This episode was very skillfully made to sound beautiful by the talented Humberto Franco (http://www.humbertofranco.com/).

Would you consider giving this podcast an honest review? You can do that here: https://lovethepodcast.com/audiobranding.  And if you like what you hear (and read!) – please do share it with anyone you think might be interested. Thanks so much!

And if you’re interested in crafting an audio brand for your business, why not check out my FREE download – 5 Tips For Implementing An Intentional Audio Strategy at https://voiceoversandvocals.com/audio-branding-strategy/

Is It Too Late?

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Our audio landscape is definitely changing.  It’s becoming more and more important for brands to have a recognizable sound, especially with the rise of Alexa, Google Home, and similar products.

Even our appliances are becoming “smart”.  If they recognize voice commands, how long will it be before they start selling us products directly – without needing a desktop computer, an iPad or a phone at all? And what’s the quickest way for these “smart” devices to let us know what brands they sell?  Audio, that’s how.

In lots of different places, these options may not be displayed as *only* audio, but those sounds are certainly played when we choose what we want.  And that reinforces the idea of an audio brand.  If we’re in public when this happens?  It also reinforces it to everyone around us.

Now, how about when we actually buy something?  We already use a lot of automation to purchase what we want.  What if the very act of purchasing, reinforced a company’s audio brand?  Turns out, Mastercard is thinking about this.  And they apparently (according to Forbes) spent $15 Million dollars on it!  The video below will explain more of what their thinking was and let you hear the results.  It doesn’t sound bad to me or anything.  But I think they’re betting on how recognizable it’ll be across platforms.  I’m not entirely convinced, but time will tell, I suppose. Should Mastercard have thought about this years ago?  Probably.  But if they couldn’t do this kind of audio branding years ago, at least they’re doing it now.

Of course, this might be too little too late.  Visa had a 2 year head start on them!

https://www.cnbc.com/video/2017/12/07/visa-spent-a-year-developing-a-signature-sound-report.html

And I love this CNBC video because the two commenting actually have opinions on which sounds appeal to them across many different brands.  They have a good point. Visa’s criteria, in case you don’t want to watch the video?  It has to be short, unobtrusive, energetic and optimistic.   It took them a year to develop that one little bit of sound – so this is no joking matter.  Maybe it surprises you that Mastercard spent so much money on this.  It doesn’t surprise me at all.  After all, Visa paid Morgan Freeman to do their commercials.  That couldn’t be cheap.

But that leads me to another point.  You may not be spending fifteen million dollars on your ads – or your audio brand.  But you still do want to remain consistent – and professional – across all your touch points.  This has already become really important.  And falling flat on this part of your marketing will cost you (and it’s a cost you may never actually be informed of).

Not everyone has to have a certain trill of notes or a particular melody associated with their brand.  But your brand should definitely have a consistent “feel”.  Something you follow through with in music, voice over and automation (if you have it).

The future of branding is sound and if I can help you with the voice over end of that, feel free to reach out.  Even if I’m not the right voice for your particular sonic image, I know a lot of talented folks that might be able to help and I’m happy to make introductions.

Now – go out and make some noise!

Would you consider reviewing the Audio Branding Podcast?  If so, here’s the Apple Podcast link: https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/audio-branding/id1489042453  And if you like what you hear (and read!) – please do share it with anyone you think might be interested. Thanks so much!