Over at FUSE 2013 , Scott Power, Senior Brand Strategist for Kaiser Permanente, discussed sonic branding vis-à-vis KP’s work with Audiobrain.
Power pointed out how sound is being used as a way to reinforce, not only the Kaiser Permanente brand, but their services, thus helping people get healthier.
Sonic branding is hardly new, yet this powerful method is underused.
Many people think of a brand as represented by a visual trademark- a company saying: ”This is us and what we represent.” However, with regards to audio branding companies say, “This is what we are offering, and this is what we want it to sound like, and how we want it to impact your senses.” But, it doesn’t need to stop there!
Walk into a McDonald’s. It has a certain smell. Order a burger. Nothing smells like a McDonald’s burger. Those smells are all part of the brand. What about the colors? The feel of the cups? The taste? The sounds that you hear when you wait in line? Leave McDonald’s and imagine what it would be like if every car company had its own distinctive ‘new car’ smell. What if each doctor’s office had its own smell that helped patients be more calm?
The brand is more than a logo, trademark or tagline. The brand is tied intimately to the experience of a product or service. It speaks through the languages of touch, sight, taste, sound and smell. It’s creates the greatest impact when, not only does it speak for the company and its offerings, but you and I actually understand the language and it resonates with what we expect the brand to be saying. There needs to be consistency, or paraphrasing Sartre: pink cake needs to taste pink!
The exciting part of this, is that Audio branding is only the beginning…
Check out this recent interview with Jon Anderson of YES. (There is a sign-in on the page but you can click the ‘x’ and listen to the interview without registering if that is your choice.)
He shares perspectives on life, creativity, nature, music and more.
From the webpage:
Millions of enthusiastic concert goers during the 1970′s and early 1980′s had a marvelous treat on their hands, going from one progressive rock concert to another. Whether it was a live concert or gazing into the magnificent dreamlike artwork of Roger Dean or the sounds of Pink Floyd, Emerson Lake and Palmer, King Crimson, Nektar or Yes, the music evoked beautiful images of the night sky, where we could gave at the shining stars and create our own “Wondrous Stories.”
Verge Multimedia’s Steven Zuckerman had the opportunity to spend about 40 minutes in conversation with world renown singer, songwriter and artist Jon Anderson who spent a majority of his career as the front-man of YES, bringing the audience into a world of beautiful imagery and ideas that resonated in the hearts of the band members.
Jon told (Zuckerman) that the music begins with the creator, and, in other words, flows through him. Composing and singing songs about the earth, environment, peace, love, harmony and beauty are not personal songs for the composer, but they’re Wondrous Stories (no pun intended) to arouse curiosity and confirm that as human beings, as part of this place we call our home, (we) need to be in balance with Nature, for without Nature, we are nothing. We are all part of the same material.
Said Zuckerman, “(While I) originally penned out several questions before the conversation, I tossed them aside to “just have a conversation.” We hope you will enjoy the conversation we had.”
Being an entrepreneur, building a dream and sharing it with people requires nothing less than a healthy dose of creativity. But this really informative blog post over at StartUpOwl (with some great resource links as well!) speaks of a creative economy and how important creativity is to the future of all industries and culture in general.
Think about it, the arts can help healing, build communities, and even start revolutions. We don’t see it in the United States too often, but in many countries, the ‘bad guys’ that go to prison are artists, musicians and writers.
I live about halfway between Chicago and Milwaukee. Chicago usually gets all the top billing with regards to innovation. I’ll admit it, I love Milwaukee but I’m guilty of perpetuating that perception.
That changes today.
I came across this article over at BizTimes.com. Creative Alliance Milwaukee is hosting a one day summit, bringing together creative people of all types, with the following goal:
Through a series of panels, breakout speeches, a trade show, a showcase of Milwaukee’s creative initiatives, live music, onsite artists and an exclusive Creative Salon session, the summit will illustrate how creativity is alive and well in Milwaukee.
I got excited just reading the press release.
Then, when digging into the Creative Alliance Website I came across an amazing resource: A report that highlights over 20 coworking/maker spaces in the Milwaukee area. That’s 20! Whether you’re talking innovation from the perspective of a tech business startup or from the perspective of an artist, there’s a collaborative space for you. Check out the pdf report here.
This is an exciting movement and something that needs to be supported – not just by artists, but by the business community. Creativity is a powerful asset and the contributions, and support, of creative people can only stimulate innovation and build the economy.
Check out the above websites and let me know what you think. If you’re in the area, I’ll see you in Milwaukee on Sept. 21 for the Summit.
Over at Revive Your Creativity I found the following manifesto, and was struck by its simplicity. Replace the words, ‘storytellers’, ‘story’, etc., with ‘designer’, or ‘innovator’ or ‘musician’, and it still applies. Great bits of wisdom. (An Audience does exist for what you do!)
The storytelling manifesto was inspired by two other brilliant compositions. The first is from Expert Enough. The other is from Holstee.
I recently came across the book “Steal Like an Artist” bu Austin Kleon. The title is what grabbed me first. Being a musician I know that Blues artists, especially in the first half of the 20th century, did a good deal of borrowing, sometimes, outright stealing of other musicians’ music and lyrics.
Guess what…
When it comes to cool innovations there’s often a collision of different ideas/metaphors that results in some new idea being spawned. Steal like an Artist gives these guidelines:
I really like number 3. This could just as easily say, “Design the product YOU want to use”, or, “Play the music YOU want to hear.”
Is there bad theft? Austin Kleon puts it like this:
Blues artists did a lot of the “Good Theft”.
One last bit of wisdom for those artists, in fact, all people, that think they need to bring a cohesiveness to their lives and their work.
I’m really looking forward to diving in to this book more deeply.
While children could definitely learn from this, adults are the ones that could really sink their teeth, um, ears, into this.
Music connects with those parts of our brain - those artsy, non-linear areas – that help with creative thinking in general. Flex your musical brain ‘muscles’ and you flex your creative muscles.
The Theta Music Trainer site gets that creative workout going, and in a fun, and playful manner. Oh, and did I say, “Free?” Yup, it’s free. However, if you get addicted to the games, and want to learn more than the free levels offer, you have to subscribe. Regardless, there are plenty of free resources worth checking out. (As an aside, the business model for this site is intriguing, don’t you think?)
So, make some beautiful music tonight - Your creativity muscles will thank you!
There is a growing consensus that when building a successful, thriving, innovative culture, it’s essential that people adopt the mentalities of entrepreneurs. While there are many different facets, Bob Baker over at The Buzz Factor has summarized them nicely in this great article (it’s worth reading to understand the nuances of what being INDIE means).
In summary, people should be:
I – Inspired
N – Nontraditional
D – Determined
I – Innovative
E – Empowered
Adopt these perspectives and foster them in those around you and, trust me, the sky will be the limit.
Technology is great, but sometimes, you hit a button and it sends something someplace you didn’t intend. This post is a perfect case in point. I intended this post to go only to this blog (where you can read what I wrote), but alas, it ended up here, at ZenStorming.
The concert was quite amazing in that what are usually heavily orchestrated arrangements were actually quite sparse. There was a level of dynamics present and layering that made the three piece band of guitar, bass and electric guitar, sound full, lush and inviting. When I saw Ms. Vega after the concert I said,
“Tonight the layers of dynamics were more engaging than the layers of instruments.” She smiled and thanked me and said, “We have to get more creative when we have less to work with.”
“It’s the constraints that make the creativity,” I answered.
Her face lit up, “That’s it!”
A lesson in innovation and creativity even from a technological mishap. Ain’t technology grand?
