Somehow, ad people today seem to think that such aural flypaper is beneath them. Hence, no more jingles. Even as aurally potent a campaign as the AFLAC duck’s quack was looked down upon within the ad community, I have read, despite its lethal effectiveness. Jingles and other sonically memorable tricks need not be naive. They can encompass irony or humor. Someday, they will return.

Take a look at Martin Lindtrom’s book “Brand Sense” and accompanying website at http://www.brandsense.com/. He describes how all five senses can be brought into play in communicating brand promises.

However, even the addition of all five sense won’t help marketers if their carefully crafted and communicated brand promises don’t match the reality of consumption. Sadly, research suggests that over 80% of customers don’t expect brand promises to be actually delivered. And 80% of customers will still be disappointed! At the end of the day, the brand ONLY exists in the mind of the consumer. No matter what us marketers think.

Neurobiologists like Damassio & LeDoux show us that meanings are locical constructs created by the conscious brain. Brands are much more about promises, which are a combination of logical and emotional constructs. But promises are worthless unless they are deliverd as promised. This is where the real work of marketers lies.

Graham Hill
Independent Marketing Consultant

Marcus, thanks, very helpful and interesting! Best, Grant

On this note you may find another company in the
UK called Sonic Brand of interest. They’ve been in the audio branding game since 1999. Nice web site (www.sonicbrand.com) – sonically branded naturally – with a glossy book (Sonic Branding, Daniel Jackson) to match

Isn’t there a certain expectation for burger smell in McDonalds or the whiff of coffee eminating from a Starbucks? And the smell of fresh print in new books mixing with coffee in your local B&N?

Any person who’s traveled by Aeroflot (in the TU-154 or IL-96) planes remebers the smell of cheap plastic disticntly – even if they flew on the plane only once.

Ok, smell won’t travel through a visual medium like TV or Internet (yet!) but for me many places are tied to smells and experiencing those smells somewhere else reminds me very distinctly of certain places and products. There’s also plenty of research out there that pretty much says that smell evokes memories and experiences more vividly than either images or sounds.

If you take away the smell or change it something seems to be…a miss. Isn’t a connection to a brand therefore formed?