What is sonic branding, and how do you get into it?
From a catchy jingle in an advert to the familiar sound that greets you when you open your favourite app, sonic branding (also known as audio or sound branding) is all around us. While most of us understand the role of creative agencies in crafting visual campaigns, fewer realise that there’s a team dedicated to developing the sounds that make brands instantly recognisable. DLMDD is a London-based agency that does just that, specialising in sound branding, music strategy and sonic identity for clients such as Cadbury, Mini and Singapore Airlines. We asked Max De Lucia, DLMDD’s director and co-founder, to tell us about the industry, from what roles exist to the types of projects they handle and some essential skills needed to succeed.
🤔 What is sonic branding?
Put very simply, sonic branding is the art of making a brand famous for how it sounds. Great sonic branding will make you recognise a brand with your eyes closed.
📂 Where have I seen the work before?
Most clients want Netflix and McDonalds levels of fame, think “Ta-dum” and “I’m Lovin’ It”. We call these ‘sonic logos’ or ‘mnemonics’. They are sound devices that make a brand recognisable in seconds.
There are lots of these examples out there, but such tiny moments of sound have great power and they can be an all-encompassing journey to nail. Also, sonic branding isn’t all sonic logos.
Examples of projects at DLMDD include work for:
Singapore Airlines
DLMDD designed the entire sonic design for Singapore Airlines. From the boarding, landing and cabin sounds, through to lounge music, app UX sounds and sound logos for brand advertising. It's a huge musical ecosystem spanning over half an hour’s worth of sound. We worked together with composer Rohan de Livera, who created music based on the airline's existing visual identity, inspired partially by the flowers on the uniform.
Cadbury
When Cadbury wanted to take their iconic visual identity to a multisensory level, together with composer Guy Farley, DLMDD set out on a journey to emblemise the Cadbury brand and its slogan, “There’s a glass and a half in everyone” through sound.
❇️ What kind of jobs can I do?
Below are some examples of the roles that exist in sonic branding – from entry-level to the most senior level:
- Junior Music Supervisor
- Junior Music Consultant
- Associate Music Supervisor
- Creative Music Consultant
- Music Supervisor
- Business Development Manager
- Client Manager
- Production Manager
- Operations Manager
- Sales Manager
- Director
- Financial Controller
🔨 What skills or traits are required?
You’ve got to have musical authenticity up your sleeve. It's ideal if you’re not just someone who ‘likes’ music but someone who has played in bands, played in orchestras, sung in choirs. For many roles within sonic branding, you need to understand the fundamentals of how music and sound is made.
It's also important to love branding and advertising, and want to know how brands are developed and created. For example, who’s working on them and how they operate in the world around you.
🗺️ What kinds of companies hire sonic branding creatives?
When it comes to creative companies that specialise in sound branding, some big contenders are:
- DLMDD (of course!)
- Adelphoi Music
- Listen
- Resister
- Zelig Sound
💰 What can I expect to be paid?
Firstly, you should never work for free. Starting salaries match the wider advertising and branding industries, with entry-level roles usually starting at £30,000 and up.
Someone once told me if you want to drive a Ferrari, don’t work in music – go and work at a bank. But I’d like to think people in our industry can prove them wrong.
🧫 What are the culture and hours like?
We have a great culture at DLMDD. There’s a freedom to roam and work remotely, but we also have a base – our super offices at The Ministry in Borough.
We work normal office hours and have natural flexibility around this to allow for the reality that a creative idea doesn’t always come at your desk.
It is a job that can also can hold expectations outside of these normal office hours. It’s a social industry; there can be lots of entertaining and being out on the town if that’s your thing.
💬 Advice on getting started
Reach out to agencies
Firstly, you need to start with a foot in the door. The great thing about the sonic branding space is that all the agencies making the best work are nicely sized, not massive companies.
You should able to find the contact details of the senior team with relative ease [e.g. check ‘Contact’ pages of websites, or LinkedIn], then think about where you might be able to add genuine value to a business. One suggestion is to pick up the phone, give them a call and tell them why they should meet you and how you can enhance what the agency is doing.
Attend industry events
Many of the industry awards shows offer free or heavily discounted tickets to the next generation of talent. If it’s a bit daunting for you to turn up to an awards show alone, here’s a DLMDD pledge. Give us an email, and if one of our team members is going, we’ll try to make sure you can go along with them so you’re accompanied by a friendly face. At these events, there will be all corners of the industry in one room, and that’s often where things start to happen…
Where to find opportunities
Synced In is the industry job board on Linkedin, and it's also worth looking at the Guild of Music Supervisors.
Getting experience
I would also really encourage people to get some experience in marketing and branding. For me, working a year or two at the advertising agency Mindshare, combined with my music background, became was a great formula for success in the industry.
Mention DLMDD
Written by Max De Lucia