Sonic Branding

Alinta Energy's sonic branding was born from a simple idea: capturing the essence of energy itself. As one of Australia's leading energy providers, the brand's sound needed to be dynamic, optimistic and forward moving. The sonic identity begins with a warm pulsating pad that seamlessly transitions into the sound of a light switch, which triggers a chime of a lightbulb. This auditory journey encapsulates Alinta Energy's innovative spirit and their commitment to lighting up lives across the nation.

How do we make Western Australia’s largest bank, Bankwest, stand out in a crowded banking market? The answer, create a sonic branding mnemonic that is the sound of “Bank Less”. That’s the sound of irreverence and energy, while leaving the viewer with a feeling of warmth towards the brand. We specifically selected real instruments that sound and feel authentic, with a five note melody that is hummable or whistleable long after the spot you’ve watched has left the screen.

For Australia’s largest technological roll out in recent history, the NBN, Rumble was tasked with creating the sonic branding for the national campaign. Overall we felt a palette of electronic instruments was the best direction to create the feeling of “progress" and “technology" that the NBN were seeking. This led to a two element mnemonic, one layer being the arpeggiator that gives the feeling of movement, the feeling of progress, which also rolls along perfectly with the visual branding as it appears on screen and twists into the end logo. The second layer being our four note melody that is the sound of technology, while also being a short melody that gives you trust in the NBN and its roll out across the nation.

Partnering with Yellowtail to sell an Aussie wine in the USA, we developed a full sonic branding package with US Agency Pereiro O’Dell. Starting with a simple vocal and piano song, we composed a suite of unique music tracks to be used at different times of the year, including Spring, the Super Bowl and Christmas. While the Yellowtail musical branding is through the full spots, the orchestration’s crescendo leaves you with a smile on your face and a love for Yellowtail.

IGA were looking for consistency in their branding. As a franchise each store is quite different, so they wanted a way to reinforce their identity as a whole, warm & organic. The challenge, there were a variety of emotions across their advertising, some more emotional, some more retail and some storytelling. We presented the idea of creating a branding suite of music and mnemonics; three different emotions / tempos and styles that could suit different creative across the year. The key was strong MELODY that could be defined across the different styles of music, whether piano, guitar, vocals etc. We created three unique tracks that are threaded by a common melody and a series of mnemonics.

The challenge; creating the sonic identity for a company at the intersection of design and tech. The solve; combining sound design and music into one organic sound that rises to peak, like an idea forming in a designers mind.

As an energy company, AGL wanted a sonic brand sound that was modern but still contained an optimistic human quality. We needed to create a score for a brand spot along with a mnemonic device that could work across other executions. We decided on a pizzicato string melody, which was bright and human, but allowed a sharp and memorable melody we could lift from the track to be used as a mnemonic device. Combined with pulsing electro current that ran underneath which evoked a sense of the “energy within” powering the track forward.

Red Rooster needed a unique mnemonic that was not only contemporary and unexpected but was inherently ‘Red Rooster’. To match the energy and quirkiness of the new campaign, we explored a hip-hop direction. This genre enables a perfect balance of youth and comedy. A dynamic beat, brass and vocal sample sets the tone as a playful synth mimics a rooster call. A fitting sonic device for an iconic Australian brand.

Compare Club were looking for a sonic identity that described their business model. I.e searching through various quotes to find the perfect solution for the customer. Musically we explored a few different options but landed on an arpeggiation of two chords rising in a whole tone and then arriving at a singular note. This progression created a feeling of ‘sorting’ to landing on an ideal choice. The arpeggiation is played by a plucked modern synth with a bright glockenspiel bell to accentuate the final note. Another layer we wanted to include were vocals. We recorded both a male and female singing ‘compare club’ to highlight that this business is for everyone.

As a financial product WISR wanted a way to stand out from the every day financial ads. With some cleverly written comedic TVCs they needed a branding device to tie the campaign together and compliment their logo. It needed to play in to the comedy but not be silly. We came up with the idea of using a choir - thereby adding gravity and scale but humour in it’s seriousness. What resulted worked fantastically and certainly stands out.