TheImportanceofSoundinBrandExperiences

Our Creative Soundologist Ben Gallagher highlights the importance and power of sound and how companies can leverage it to their advantage.

Sound. The invisible force. When you pause and think about it, sound is truly a magical phenomenon. Through the vibrations of tiny particles in the air, people can be deeply emotionally moved.

The sound of our child's first words can bring us deep joy. The noise of a predator in the forest fills us with fear. And let's not even start with music, whose calculated vibrations inexplicably react with our brains, seemingly able to evoke every conceivable emotion in us!

Sound is powerful.

And in the right hands, this power can be harnessed with great success for your business.

At Demodern, we use technologies to transform such magical phenomena into effective customer experiences. In this article, we demonstrate why sound is an important tool in almost all our projects and how your brand can benefit from it as well.

Influence

The examples mentioned above, as well as our general life experience, show the important role sound plays in our lives. But what is the difference between "good" and "effective" sound in a business context?

From numerous, sometimes decades-long research by scientists, we know when, how, and why sound can influence us.

Studies in supermarkets and restaurants show, for example, that the tempo of background music has a surprisingly direct impact on customer behavior. Faster music prompts supermarket visitors to complete their shopping more quickly, while slower music leads them to browse more and ultimately spend more. Similar effects have been observed in restaurants, where customers eat longer and pay more for their meals and drinks with slower background music.

Other research has found that inappropriate music, whether in terms of tempo, genre, or a range of other factors, can lead to undesirable consumer behavior - for example, spending less, appreciating a product less, or simply not making a purchase at all. It was found that sales in a wine shop were higher when classical music was played and lower when Top-40 hits were played. Crazy, right?

Besides music, there is a sound component of enormous power that each of us carries with us every day: our voice.

The human voice has immense metaphorical significance. You can tell by the way someone speaks to their partner that they are in a relationship, and studies have shown that we are more likely to vote for politicians with a deeper voice.

To fully harness the power of the human voice, we developed an emotional virtual reality experience for PETA that allows users to speak in real-time with a virtual animal and view the world from its perspective.

By combining state-of-the-art immersive technology and live voice recordings, we were able to bring the topic of animal protection closer to users in a convincing way and transform this project, like many others, from a simple "good" sound to a strategic and effective use of audio elements.

Immersion

One definition of the term "immersion" is: "a state in which one feels intensely engaged or involved." Who wouldn't want to say that about the relationship of customers to their own products?

Through the careful and targeted use of sound, we bring audiences into experiences in a way that captivates their attention and keeps them coming back. Important factors can include the creation of "holistic sound concepts" that ensure all elements - story, design, UX, etc. - are supported and enhanced by the addition of sound.

Sometimes this manifests in quite obvious ways. Like in our work with Edding: For the “Edding Wall of Fame”, it was crucial that users, although writing on a digital wall with their mouse or tablet, still hear the satisfying and oh-so-nostalgic sound of an Edding marker moving across paper.

This soft scratching, the occasional squeak - what an all-sensory experience an Edding marker is!

Another important component of many of our projects is the "building" of virtual worlds. To leave a lasting impression, it is important for us to make every moment as natural as possible. As we have already seen in studies on the incompatibility of music and products, sound plays a key role here and can negate the effect of immersion if used incorrectly.

When we developed the Nature Detectives App for Migros in collaboration with Mutabor, more than 1,000 sounds from Swiss nature were created to immerse children and their parents in a fascinating educational gaming experience - from biologically accurate audio landscapes to a jazz-noir detective theme.

By creating and implementing a holistic sound concept that fits the rest of the project, you ensure a complete and rounded result that excites users.

Innovation

When we think of technological innovations, we often think of the latest CGI techniques from Hollywood or faster computer chips. Even if they sometimes fly under the radar, there are many innovative new sound technologies that can captivate any audience!

Here are just a few examples of how we have used sound in novel ways:

Implementing the SNIPES Soundbooth was about aligning the benefits of a professional recording studio with SNIPES' values as a leading urban lifestyle and streetwear retailer. Visitors to selected Snipes stores thus have the opportunity to record, produce, and distribute their own "sick bars" in studio quality. This gives young hip-hop talents access to an experience that would otherwise cost them thousands of euros.

In collaboration with the artists of Kollektiv Turmstrasse, we created a unique online festival experience where users, aka clubbers, came together in a virtual space to celebrate the release of the album "Unity of Opposites #1". As avatars, they could move freely in a dystopian space and dance to the DJ set streamed live from the studio.

With today's dynamic technological innovations, there is always something new and exciting on the horizon. Together with our creative experts, you can discover and harness the potential of these new technologies in your own unique way.

Outro

Our motto at Demodern is "pushing things forward".

In the world of sound, we help our clients combine the tried and true with the innovative to create exciting experiences.

If you are looking for exciting new ways to communicate with your target audience and want to harness the power of sound, please contact us.