What is an audio identity?
A musical identity is the translation of your brand values, origin, and character into sound. An audio identity uses musical elements such as melody, rhythm, and timbre to build brand recognition and evoke relevant associations. The audio identity for your brand can consist of a single audio logo, but also a comprehensive audio library.
Audio Logo
A audio logo is a short musical fragment, suitable for application across all your communications. The musical signature of your brand.
Library
An audio library consists of musical assets that can be deployed across different channels to enhance your brand.
Why is an audio identity important?
If you’re serious about building your brand, you need to behave coherently at every interaction point with your audience. Visual branding plays an important role, but adding an audio component makes all your communication more effective.
Stand out with audio
With a distinctive sound identity, you can easily differentiate yourself from the competition. While we’re overwhelmed by visual communication, there’s still plenty of space to claim your own sound that supports your brand character and stands out in the landscape.
A consistent sound
By consistently projecting a coherent sound, you create a unified brand experience. An auditory style guide serves as a bridge between all your brand’s expressions. This makes all your communications more effective, from commercials to podcasts and Insta-reels to TV campaigns.
Adding emotion
Music is exceptionally capable of evoking emotions. By strategically using audio, you can harness this superpower for your brand. A suitable audio identity not only tells us who the sender is but also triggers the specific emotions relevant to your brand.
How do you develop an audio identity?
TAMBR specialises in developing audio identities for brands. We do this based on robust strategy, a healthy dose of creativity, and supported by objective data. Here’s how it works:
Analysis
Developing a musical identity always starts with an in-depth analysis of your brand and the relevant cultural playing field. This clarifies what your brand stands for, how it differs from the competition, and how it relates to existing cultural codes.
TAMBR Audio Intelligence
Based on millions of interactions between listeners and music, our algorithm can predict how users will respond to specific musical choices. This gives us early insight into how well your audio identity fits your brand personality during the creative process.
Briefing
After developing a musical strategy, we craft a precise brief and search for a suitable composer to sketch your musical house style.
Creation
Based on several demos, we work in multiple rounds towards an audio library filled with musical assets such as a brand anthem and audio logo.
Guidelines
What does my brand sound like? How do I navigate the audio library? Which audio logo do I use? You will find the answers to these questions in the audio brandbook. A concise set of guidelines to help you apply your musical identity.
Implementation
A successful audio identity stands or falls on consistent implementation. To ensure this, we organise workshops for employees and your agencies. And if needed (or not), we throw a party.
The audio identity of the Open University
The Open University is a leader in online education. An adventurous brand in a traditional sector. The musical identity of the brand therefore diverges significantly from what one would expect from an average academic institution. A bold sound, supported by a rolling breakbeat to underline the rebellious character of the university. Complemented by a string quartet evoking connotations with classical academic traditions. Supplied in a brand anthem in several variants, a sound logo, and an audio library filled with musical building blocks.
Open University brand anthem
This way, the Open University is provided with musical support for all possible forms of communication. From posts on social media, podcasts to events like the annual Dies Natalis.