When brands include sounds

For many years, computer users have noticed a specific musical sound during bootup: Microsoft Windows has one sound, Apple Macintosh has another sound. These are examples of sonic branding. Similarly, brand jingles and musical straplines are part of sonic identity.

Now sonic branding is becoming increasingly important as brands seek to further differentiate themselves in this era of Alexa, Siri, Google Assistant, Amazon Echo and other virtual assistants and smart speakers.

In other words, the audio component of branding must support visual elements and other aspects of brand identity, because so many consumers rely on voice commands and audio response.

To be effective, the sound must be brief and memorable, consistent with other brand elements. It can be used in both audio and video brand experiences. And it should appeal to the target market, developing an emotional connection with the brand.

Nike's marketing marathon

On Saturday, world-class athletes wearing special Nike shoes will attempt to do what has never been done--run a marathon in less than two hours. Nike has been promoting this effort for many months, identifying just the right elite athletes and selecting a track that is suited to setting this record.

The brand's lightweight shoes are a big part of this project, featuring technology that reduces effort, a salient functional benefit that even weekend athletes will appreciate. Even if none of the runners achieves the goal of 'breaking 2', Nike will be a winner for supporting the goal and celebrating sports performance (a key association for its brand, of course). In short, this marathon is also a marketing marathon.

Despite intense competition from Adidas, amongst other major brands, Nike enjoys strong brand loyalty and image. Yet Adidas has strengths that help it attract customers, including retro styled shoes favoured by many.

Nike UK has more than 400k followers on Twitter, where posts include promotions, 'where to buy', new product introductions and influencer images (think athletes). Nearly 200k followers watch the NikeWomen Pinterest account, and 450k followers check out Nike London's Instagram page. Nike UK has 28 million Facebook followers, many of whom also follow individual Nike sports accounts. Clearly, this is a brand with social media savvy, smart segmentation strategies and a good connection with its target markets.

The latest in McDonald's marketing

McDonald's is always cooking up something new to market. It's just redone its McCafe brand look, as shown above, for a more upmarket, posher image. In fact, the fast-food chain will switch to all-sustainable coffee beans by 2020.

McCafe is challenging Costa and Starbucks and all the others selling gourmet and special coffees in the UK. Also, to be an integral part of local UK communities, the McDonald's site has a special section on grassroots football. Did you see McDonald's holiday advert, featuring Juliette the vintage wooden doll? Fun.

In addition, McDonald's just opened a fast-food outlet a few steps from the Vatican--touching off a controversy. In response to negative comments, the company announced: 'As is the case whenever McDonald’s operates near historic sites anywhere in Italy, this restaurant has been fully adapted with respect to the historical environment'.

BTW, McDonald's UK is highly social: 68m Facebook likes, hundreds of thousands of Twitter followers and lots of videos on YouTube. Working hard to engage customers!

Branded salt and GivingTuesday

No, salt is not just salt. In the age of marketing, Morton Salt, a US-based brand, has the advantage of longevity and consistency. It also has a salt product for nearly every consumer and business segment.

For many decades, its packaging and adverts have featured the 'Morton Salt girl' holding an umbrella (see below, from Morton's website).

And now the salt brand is 'giving back' by backing a campaign designed to encourage charitable donations on #GivingTuesday, the last Tuesday in November.

Morton Salt partnered with an indie band, OK Go, known for its 2014 song, The One Moment, to create the video with eye-catching visual moments.

The salt company had the idea of inspiring giving through this video, to reinforce the brand's commitment to marketing purpose.

According to the director of communications and corporate brand strategy:

'We were really looking to help break through in a way that people would not necessarily expect from Morton Salt'.

What does a brand stand for?

Quick, what do you think of when you think of Kodak?

Maybe you remember Kodak's yellow and red film packaging...or other photography-related products.

Kodak is changing its brand associations, and today it describes itself this way: 'Kodak is a technology company focused on imaging'. For consumers, Kodak offers digital cameras, movie cameras, printers and more.

Can the Kodak brand be associated with smartphones? Kodak is aiming for that market. Last year, its brand appeared on a smartphone made by Bullitt. The phone didn't sell well. Now the Kodak brand is about to appear on a new smartphone, to be marketed as having a very good built-in camera. The new phone is called the Ektra.

Everyone takes photos with smartphones and tablets these days, right? Some famous photographers use their iPhones and rely on the quality, and Apple is definitely promoting the photography aspect for social media ease and professional use.

In other words, Apple has successfully associated its branded phones and tablets with high-quality photography.

Can Kodak do the same for its Ektra smartphone?