Sound and music in your personal life and brand.

I’m a strong believer of touching all the senses when it comes to branding. Sound and music are maybe the strongest tools with which you can connect emotions to a brand. Remember that moment in the cinema, that music that played on that special occasion or a squeaky noise in the dark. Have you ever been to Walt Disney World? Disney imagineers try to implement sounds and music everywhere you go so you are totally taken over by your surroundings.

Sound is maybe one of the more difficult elements that you could implement to your personal branding strategy. Let us look at how companies have incorporated sound into their brand :

Nokia: the most played tune in the world, everybody knows the jingle and immediately makes the connection with the brand.

Intel Inside: You only have to hear the jingle and the image of the logo comes to mind.

THX and Dolby digital: Who hasn’t been to a cinema where the sound of these two companies come to mind only by hearing the sound of helicopters and the sound of the bass that starts of false and turns into a very clear pure sound.

MGM: GRRRWAAAH the lion? Feeling it?

Ipod: Even the ticking sound of the Ipod scroll wheel is so distinct that it makes the brand connection.

T-mobile: Uploads special t-mobile ringtones onto their simlocked phones.

Samsung: Their televisions make a sound when turned on and off.

Can you come up with another distinct brand sound?

Now is the question how you can incorporate a sound to your Personal brand. This could be a particular soundbite or music on your blog, sounds in your slideshare presentations, youtube presentations or even your ringtone. This can also be a certain soundbite or phrase that you use often: “How you doin?”

A popular company that creates music for movies, commercials and tv-shows is Paraphrase. The three gentlemen of Paraphrase have composed music for projects in the Netherlands as well as internationally. Check out their website at www.paraphrase.nl and click on the big CLICK button to see their spectacular introduction movie. If you watch the movie you immediately understand how music can touch your emotions .Also in their portfolio you can check out how they incorporate sound and music on a professional level.

Music in your personal life:
A few options how we can implement music in our personal life:

• Whenever you need to go on a presentation or sales call, listen to some music right before you go “on stage”. Pick songs that you really like; pick something very relaxing to get your nerves down, or pick something very loud and upbeat to fire you up for the task and get the adrenaline rushing.

• When coming back from such an occasion and you have the feeling you really got the sale or really got your audience attention, play a specific song on your way back in the car or subway. Let that song be YOUR gift of performing your best that day. Feeling good?

• Just like the points that I mentioned above you can implement music in all things in daily life that need to get you up and ready or relaxed and unstressed. Use your Ipod as an alarm clock and wake up with your favorite music, use music to get through traffic jams, use music to go to bed; possibilities are endless.

• Use music in your presentation to get your audience up and running (not literally of course ). In university I used to make small movies to put in front of my presentation. In these movies I put up beat music that really caught my audience attention. I also edited a volume change in the music so the students even got more surprised.


• Have fun with music!!! You know it is true, everybody does it; when you’re all by yourself you put up some wild music and start to dance to it, sing along with it, or even become part of a band playing that air guitar like your life depended on it. No? Never did? Try it out! Nobody will see you and it relieves stress!






• Pick up an instrument; if you have never learned to play an instrument start today. It is never too late to start. And ok you maybe never become the next Eric Clapton, Elton John, Phil Collins or one of the Beatles. But ey what the heck, it’s all about the fun. Buy a guitar for less than 100 dollars and you’re off!

During a Ted.com conference Julian Treasure presents the importance of sounds. Check it out:

Want to play air guitar:
Air Guitar?

Post me your ideas and let us look into the best way to incorporate sounds into your personal brand.

Related posts:

1. Take the stage!
2. International Business Days@ Rotterdam Business School
3. Ted.com: Ideas worth spreading
4. Slideshare.org: Share your world