Tag: Sonic identity

Singapore – Electrolux Group’s premium brand AEG has unveiled a bold new visual identity along with its first-ever sonic branding, marking a modern evolution for the iconic 137-year-old German brand.

AEG partnered with growth and transformation firm Prophet to create its new visual identity, designed to reflect the brand’s commitment to bold design and uncompromising innovation. The updated look, recognised by numerous third-party awards, will be applied across various marketing assets, including key visuals, online content, events, and in-store displays.

“Ensuring a brand remains relevant and distinctive is a big challenge for many brands. This refresh not only highlights the importance of evolving a brand with a rich heritage but also stands as a testament to our creative partnership with Electrolux Group,” says Gregg Finlay, executive creative director and AEG account lead at Prophet.

According to AEG, the initial testing showed strong results, with the refreshed branding scoring well among global consumers and receiving positive feedback from retail partners.

Tom Astin, AEG brand and strategy director, said, “We are proud to present a sharpened and more contemporary AEG brand. Our consultations with consumers, together with strong product innovations, have been translated into a bolder and progressive expression—through visual and sound—with a world where distinctive characters play a central role alongside a colour scheme that sets AEG apart from its competitors. The evolved colour palette pays homage to our beginning as a brand back in 1887 by continuing to use red, but now sees the application of darker hues to create more cut-through and distinction. This is a modern update that strongly conveys our premium position in the market.”

Meanwhile, for its first-ever sonic branding, AEG also collaborated with MassiveMusic, the company behind sonic identities for brands like TikTok and Philips. Together, they crafted a unique sound identity that aligns with AEG’s modern brand evolution.

“As well as a visual update, we have also tapped into the emotional shortcut that sound provides to create the first ever sonic identity for AEG. We wanted to capture the world of AEG in audio and asked ourselves what the personality of the brand would sound like?! Our tests placed the music suite in the 78th percentile for memorability and the 80th percentile for appeal. We’re very excited to see this come together in the first instance to support the launch of our latest kitchen range and think the new Sonic identity does a great job to reinforce our brand promise to Challenge the Expected,” Astin explained.

Laura Jones, GM and director of client services for the UK at MassiveMusic London, added, “This was a unique opportunity to bring contemporary edge and relevance to a trusted, household brand through sound. Taking inspiration from AEG’s heritage, design ethos, and positioning, we blended warm, elegant strings with electronic textures, underpinned by a highly recallable melody. The result is a modern, warm, and sophisticated, yet effortlessly cool, suite of sounds that are perfectly in tune with AEG’s new visual identity.”

AEG’s bold new look and sound identity debuted alongside its latest Kitchen Range, featuring AI-assisted cooking technology. The range includes AI TasteAssist, designed to help consumers elevate their cooking with smart, intuitive features.

Singapore – M1, a telecommunications operator in Singapore, has introduced its new sonic branding with an unusual musical arrangement, designed to capture the soul of the brand. The warmth, genuineness, and individualised experiences that the firm values is being embodied in M1’s new sound identity. 

Its fundamental components, which include guitars and an acoustic ukulele, provide a relaxing setting that emphasises M1’s commitment to fostering meaningful relationships with its customers.

Moreover, smooth vocals and light percussion are added to create a more upbeat and sounding experience. The telco has also included ethnic instruments from China, Malay, and India into a custom version of the composition, which reflects the multicultural scene of Singapore. 

The musical arrangement is M1’s commitment to creating a “Made-to-Measure” brand experience. It is offered in both conventional and cultural versions. It displays the brand’s respect for the varied cultural mosaic that sets Singapore apart, in addition to reflecting its core principles of positivism, authenticity, and teamwork. M1 celebrates individuality and togetherness while attempting to build a personal connection with its listeners through this aural identity. 

The new musical identity of M1 will be incorporated into advertising campaigns, customer support correspondence, and digital channels. The goal of this integration is to give customers a consistent and memorable brand experience.

Speaking about the new brand identity, Mustafa Kapasi, chief operating Officer for M1, said, “Our new sonic identity is more than just a sound – it’s a reflection of our brand’s values and our deep connection to the people of Singapore. By celebrating diversity and authenticity through music, we aim to forge stronger emotional bonds with M1 customers and provide them a truly ‘Made-to-Measure’ brand experience.”

Mumbai, India – Global automobile brand Mahindra has announced a new sonic identity dedicated to its new lineup of electric vehicles. For the car brand, the new sonic identity aims at embodying Mahindra’s pursuit of sustainability and caring for the planet, resonating with the brand’s commitment to innovation and excellence.

The new sonic identity, conceptualised alongside music composer AR Rahman, extends far beyond the brand anthem, encompassing over 75 unique sounds tailored for various aspects of Mahindra’s forthcoming all-new portfolio of global electric SUVs. 

These sounds include interior and exterior drive sounds, experience zone modes, infotainment cues, and functional signals such as seat-belt alerts and turn indicators. Each sound has been meticulously crafted to align with Mahindra’s brand and connect with the customers through music and lifestyle.

The goal for this sonic identity was to mix cutting-edge tech with a harmonious in-car experience, simulating vehicle sounds while keeping passengers attuned to their driving mode. This formed a harmonious blend that captivates the soul and complements visual enhancements such as active ambient lighting and high-resolution animations.

In addition to this launch, Mahindra also teamed up with electronics company HARMAN and Dolby Laboratories to bring Dolby’s Atmos® Audio to Mahindra’s electric vehicles.

Rajesh Jejurikar, executive director and CEO of auto and farm sectors at Mahinda & Mahindra, said, “We are delighted to have AR Rahman, a global music celebrity and Academy Awards winner, collaborate with us to create a sonic identity and brand anthem for Mahindra’s forthcoming range of all-new Born Electric Vehicles.”

He added, “The sounds reflect a musical extravaganza that embodies our brand’s heartbeat, values, and vision. The new sonic identity and brand anthem marks a significant step in connecting with our new age customers through the universal language of music.”

Meanwhile, Rahman commented, “When I see innovative electric vehicle designs abroad, I often wondered why India hadn’t’ yet taken that leap. Collaborating with Mahindra changed that perception for me. Beyond their remarkable designs, they valued my insights on the sonic experience, emphasizing both empowering experience and the immersive feel of being in an eco-friendly, silent SUV at par with the best in the world.”

He added, “Our partnership goes beyond merely crafting sounds; it embodies the essence of an Indian innovation at par. While I’ve used instruments from Japan, America, and Europe, witnessing India emerge as a leader with pioneering innovations fills me with immense pride. In collaboration with Mahindra, our aim is to deliver a sonic experience that’s both global and uniquely Indian – a sound that resonates with pride and celebrates India’s significant transformation.”

London – Branding is a multi-dimensional endeavor, and there could never be too many facets for companies and products to unearth in the goal to serve fresh and ingenious ways of asserting one’s identity. In light of recent developments among brands, it seems that to extract the ‘gem’ in branding is to simply pay attention to one of our God-given senses – our sonic appetite. 

In a new announcement, Colgate has revealed that it will now be joining the earlier adopters of audio branding such as McDonald’s and Intel, to develop its first-ever global sonic identity. 

So how will Colgate sound like? In a feature published on YouTube by MassiveMusic, the international creative music agency in London tapped by the brand to develop its sound, it is said that the audio will simply carry these important elements – strong beat, bright sounds, and ‘surprising moments’. 

Most importantly, it will feature ‘humming’ – which had been decided as the centerpiece of the branding’s ‘big idea’ on ‘Optimism’.

In partnership with its New York team, MassiveMusic shared that in the mid of conceptualization, they have been trying to uncover what ultimately makes a sound ‘optimistic’. Optimism has been Colgate’s core value, never leaving the sight of its campaigns through the years, and it was crucial that the audio embodies it and sounds like it. 

This is in turn has motivated the team to turn to the power of science. According to MassiveMusic, they spoke and worked with academics, ethnomusicologists, and neuroscientists, and at the end of their research, they have been directed to one simple but authentic signifier of positivity – the human hum. 

In the same feature, viewers are taken to the first listen of the sonic identity – an upbeat and cheery hum – that would go in sync with the smile visual animation in the Colgate logo. 

The sonic identity consists of a blend of both female and male tones, and the sonic logo was meticulously recorded in such a way as to sound “very real, close, and natural.” 

The choice of key was also based on research, selecting the ‘D Major’ which is widely accepted as optimistic in nature. The agency said the choice of notation and the portmanteau bend towards the end of the sonic logo was also deliberately thought of to create an activating feeling without being overbearing. 

Roscoe Williamson, global creative strategy director at MassiveMusic, shared that the biggest challenge of the project was its complex nature – the need to create a system of branded ‘watermarked’ music, stemming from a sonic DNA that would be adopted by more than 200 countries and across a broad range of platforms and mediums. 

“And so we created a sonic architecture that could handle this complexity and an overarching aesthetic to the new Colgate music and sound that has universal appeal. To do this, we worked with a team of academics and experts and were able to define music and sound cues that throughout history have represented optimism. These cues are at the heart of Colgate’s new sonic brand and have enabled a flexible system that represents the optimistic nature of the brand in a highly distinctive and holistic way,” said Williamson. 

Meanwhile, Jared Richardson, global head of design at Colgate, commented, “It really was an incredible experience developing the sound of Colgate with MassiveMusic. The process, collaboration, and outcome were fascinating and really enjoyable. The result is a strategically valuable asset that will play out across our global marketing campaigns. We look forward to continuing developing this side of our brand.”

The new sonic brand will be rolled out across North America, Latin America, Europe, Africa-Eurasia, and Asia.