Firebrand

We live in a multimedia world. It would be nice to have a brand that could be translated through all 5 senses, but until there is smell-o-vision and the iPod Lick, us non-food services brands will have to stick to the sense we can easily control: sight and sound. There is hardly a company that doesn’t have a visual logo, so why are there so few with an audio logo?

The companies that do have an audio logo rarely leverage it well. There is one great exception though. If I say Intel, what do you here? I hardly have to post it but here is the Intel audio logo. It starts sharp, but ends airy, complementing Intel’s graphic brand. The logo chimes back to early computer noises (pun intended) which keeps it technological. It says everything that Intel wants it to say.

The audio logo was very pragmatic for Intel. As a microprocessor manufacturer, they knew that it was going to be very hard to get regular customers interested in processors with traditional direct advertising. Their strategy instead was to become a standard in the mind of consumers by cross branding with all the computer manufacturers that used their product. This meant Intel would pay $350,000,000 annually to have their logo appear in their advertising. Even a third of a billion dollars still doesn’t buy you alot of time at the end of all these TV spots, so the combination of the visual logo and audio made the biggest impact in the smallest amount of time. This also allowed them to extend the “Intel Inside” campaign into advertisement for computers on radio. I would like to see Intel leverage that logo in their web presence.

What would your Audio logo be? Would it be a silly jingle like a car dealership? I hope not. Would it be Sprint’s pin drop? Or the chime when you start up Windows Vista? It could be the brand name said aloud; would it be a woman or a mans voice? Clint Eastwood maybe? Or maybe a computer voice like Motorola’s “Hello Moto?” The sky is the limit.

I imagine the Firebrand audio logo being the sound of a match striking, then an electric guitar note starting soft and rising in a crescendo then ending suddenly. What do you imagine yours sounding like? Make it a reality.

—

By Colin Finkle. Colin Finkle is an award winning industrial designer who works with large brands everyday designing displays for FX Displays in Toronto, Canada. He is the principle designer at Firebrand Creative. He also writes for AMD’s FireUser.com blog.

We want to here from you! Please Comment or Email.