From Music Association To Brand Identity: Why The Future Of Sonic Branding Is ‘Brandtentional’

For years, brands have used music to make campaigns more memorable. A powerful track can create an emotional connection, elevate a film, or make a campaign instantly recognisable. But there is a fundamental difference between music that is associated with a brand and sound that actually belongs to the brand.

That distinction is becoming increasingly important as brands compete for attention across a fragmented, audio-rich consumer landscape.

I am calling this idea ‘Brandtentional Sound’, the strategic use of sound to express the deepest essence of a brand, intentionally, consistently, and distinctively.

The starting point is not the music. It is the brand.

What does the brand stand for? What does it make people feel? What is its personality? What is its cultural context? And perhaps most importantly, what should it sound like when nobody says its name?

These questions shift the conversation from creating a piece of music for a campaign to creating a sonic expression of the brand itself.

A campaign can have a brilliant piece of music. It can become popular, generate millions of views and even become synonymous with the campaign. But ask a simple question: Could that music belong to another brand?

If the answer is yes, it may be memorable music. It may even be effective campaign music. But it isn’t necessarily brand sound.

*From association to identity*

This is where the distinction between association and identity becomes critical.

A campaign song is often created around a particular moment, message or cultural opportunity. It has a beginning and an end. Once the campaign ends, the music often disappears with it.

A sonic identity, on the other hand, should have a life beyond the campaign.

It should be able to travel across films, reels, apps, retail environments, events, product experiences, notifications, content and other consumer earpoints (audio touchpoints). Its expression can evolve with the context, but its underlying character should remain recognisable.

Think of it as the auditory equivalent of a brand’s visual identity.

We would rarely expect a brand to use a completely different logo, colour language or typography every time it launches a campaign.

Yet music is often treated differently.Brands commission a new song for every campaign without first establishing a distinctive sonic territory.

The opportunity lies in changing that mindset.

‘Brandtential’ sound starts by understanding the brand at a deeper level.

Its values, personality, emotional promise, cultural relevance, and consumer relationship all need to inform the sonic design.

This does not necessarily mean creating a single jingle or a fixed piece of music that plays everywhere. In fact, it is quite the opposite.

A meaningful sonic identity can be flexible without becoming inconsistent.

A brand’s sonic signature can be expressed differently in a 30-second film, a short-form social video, an in-store experience, or a mobile notification. The instrumentation, tempo, arrangement, and format can change, while the underlying melodic structure remains intact.

That is what makes a sonic identity strategically valuable.

The objective is not simply for consumers to remember a tune. It is for them to recognise a brand’s presence and experience the brand world through sound, even before the brand is explicitly identified.

*The new challenge for marketers*

This becomes particularly relevant in an environment where consumers are encountering brands through increasingly short and fragmented interactions.

A few seconds of audio can become a powerful brand cue. A notification, a sonic logo, an artist collaboration, a piece of background music or even the soundscape of a physical experience can contribute to how a brand is perceived.

But consistency is key.

If every sound is created independently, the brand ends up with a collection of music rather than a coherent sonic identity.

The next phase of sonic branding, therefore, is not about producing more music. It is about producing more intentional sound.

Brands need to ask: What is our sound? What makes it ours? And can someone recognise us without seeing our logo?

The most powerful opportunity is to make sound an enduring part of the brand ecosystem.

A campaign song can create a moment. A sonic identity can create memory.

That is why I believe the conversation needs to move from music associated with a brand to sound that belongs to a brand.

‘Brandtential Sound’ is ultimately about making that shift. From popularity to distinctiveness, from association to identity, and from campaign thinking to long-term brand building.

Because when sound is intentionally designed from the essence of the brand, it doesn’t simply accompany the brand.

It becomes the brand.