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Noisome pestilence as governance
BusinessDay (satire) (press release) (registration) (blog) May 29th, 2017 marks a threshold for assessing Nigeria’s democracy and President Muhammadu Buhari’s mid-term. Positive as things seem, all is not well with Nigeria. Beyond Western normative idea of good governance, Nigeria missed the age of … |
May 28, 2017 at 06:15AM
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Visually, you can only see what’s in front of your eyes, but auditory sensations can come from above, below, behind and all sides. Today, with multiple screens competing for the focus of their audience’s eyes, brand marketers need new ways to stand out.
And that’s good news for alert marketers. Because you have a chance to enter the fray from the flank. You can influence the powerful sense of hearing while your competitors aren’t looking. The process is neither difficult nor expensive. Welcome to audio branding.
Why The Battlefield Has Changed
As audio touchpoints proliferate, once-silent magazines, newspapers and brochures wouldn’t be caught dead without music and video. Even sales reps’ flipcharts have become multimedia-enabled apps. But few US marketers have rolled out a strategic approach to sound and music.
This creates an opportunity to take the high ground with a coherent, multi-touchpoint musical brand that’s recognizable at every customer interaction.
Think of this. The French National Railroad, SNCF, which has carefully managed its audio brand for a decade, boasts 88% recognition of their sound after only two notes. You can hear them here.
Would a result like that be helpful to your brand? I think so. Here’s why.
Reason 1: We Live In Distractible Times
Your customers may be texting, surfing or playing Pókeman Sun and Moon while they’re “watching” your commercial or video. Often, the eyes are averted in these days of “Continuous Partial Attention.”
How can your brand say, “Here I am,” when your customer’s eyes are distracted by another screen. The sense of hearing can come to the rescue.
Reason 2: Music Supports Memory
Brand marketers must turn their attention away from choosing licensed music for their commercials and videos, and turn them toward to the creation of an audio vocabulary that communicates their brand values and becomes woven into people’s memories.
Neuroscientists have located the part of the brain that links music to memory. It’s in the pre-frontal cortex, a part of the brain that’s exceedingly interconnected with the rest of the brain. “What seems to happen is that a piece of familiar music serves as a soundtrack for a mental movie that starts playing in our head.” said Petr Janata, a cognitive neuroscientist at University of California, Davis.
If a brand is rigorously managing visual communication but leaving their sound identity up to their various agencies and production studios, it’s sacrificing a huge opportunity to build brand equity. Brands must find a distinctive audio universe that crystalizes their brand essence and that sets them apart from the competition. And they must infuse it into all their audio touch points.
This requires a new type of strategic agency that brings a balance of branding expertise and sound and music design experience. Creating an audio brand is a deep and deeply collaborative process. An Audio Branding agency is not a traditional music house but focuses exclusively on the strategy and development of sound for brands.
Reason 3: While Audio Standards Powerfully Convey Your Brand, They Also Simplify Your Life
Today’s committed brand marketer should require an Audio Style Guide. This will simplify decisions and save time for, not just the marketer, but the product design team, the digital agency, the event agency, the ad agency, the PR agency, the call center and the HR team when they have to choose the sounds for their products, YouTube videos, sampling demos, commercials, on-hold music and training films.
To get started, you must create your Audio DNA, which captures your brand values, and your Audio Logo, which conveys your meaning in companionship with your visual logo.
Consider the financial services giant AXA which operates in 57 countries around the world. Their product mixes differ country by country. And yet, globally, their powerful leadership role is captured in this audio DNA.
AXA has simplified the job of their marketing departments by commissioning a mix-and-match library of branded music based on this DNA. It’s composed just for them and punctuated by a powerful Audio Logo. This has allowed their marketing agencies from Latin America to Asia to create commercials with widely differing story lines but a family feel and a strong branded sound.
Audio branding, like visual branding, exerts powerful brand influence, influence that strengthens and deepens over the long term. Today, it’s vital that a brand’s customers apprehend your meaning when their wandering eyes are fleetingly focused elsewhere.
Contributed to Branding Strategy Insider by Colleen Fahey, Sixième Son
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May 25, 2017 at 04:39AM
from Colleen Fahey
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Although firms will only have to comply with portions of the U.S. Department of Labor’s fiduciary rule for retirement account advisers by early June, experts say Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta’s announcement that the agency won’t delay the rule any further means a wholesale repeal is increasingly unlikely.
May 24, 2017 at 06:04AM
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Companies in the U.S. spend nearly triple the amount on legal services for every dollar of revenue than counterparts around the globe, but overall spending varies greatly depending on the size and industry of the business, according to a new analysis released Tuesday.
May 24, 2017 at 06:04AM
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Humanitarians have long highlighted the abusive fees demanded of migrants fleeing foreign war zones and oppressive regimes. But similarly exploitative pricing schemes quietly mark the travels of transients within the United States.
May 14, 2017 at 06:12AM
from Elizabeth Balboa
The size of investments in the cannabis industry is rising at an unprecedented level, as evidenced by the more than $730 million raised by marijuana businesses in the four months of the year — versus $124 million in the first four months of 2016.
May 14, 2017 at 06:12AM
from Javier Hasse
Big-name retail stocks Macy’s Inc (NYSE: M), J C Penney Company Inc (NYSE: JCP), Nordstrom, Inc.
| Date | Firm | Action | From | To |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 2017 | Gordon Haskett | Initiates Coverage On | Reduce | |
| May 2017 | Atlantic Equities | Upgrades | Underweight | Neutral |
| Feb 2017 | Susquehanna | Initiates Coverage On | Neutral |
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May 14, 2017 at 06:12AM
from Wayne Duggan
IConic Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) is approaching yet another milestone event. Apple’s shares, which had a lackluster run in 2015, turned the corner in mid-2016 and began to trend broadly higher subsequently.
| Date | Firm | Action | From | To |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 2017 | Morgan Stanley | Maintains | Overweight | Overweight |
| Apr 2017 | Credit Suisse | Maintains | Outperform | Outperform |
| Apr 2017 | Pacific Crest | Maintains | Overweight |
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May 14, 2017 at 06:12AM
from Shanthi Rexaline
Over the last several years, Joey Agree has taken Agree Realty Corporation (NYSE: ADC) from a $300 million microcap to a $1.5 billion diversified real estate company.
May 14, 2017 at 06:12AM
from Elizabeth Balboa
The FTSE 100 rallied off support at 7100. Breakout above 7400 would signal a fresh advance. Declining Twiggs Money Flow indicates medium-term selling pressure; the long-term signal, however, remains bullish.
May 06, 2017 at 06:00AM
from ColinTwiggs
The News International |
A populist budget
The News International Even long before the announcement of the Supreme Court verdict, finance minister Ishaq Dar himself had made it clear the kind of budget in the making. “The government would accord top priority to the wellbeing of the people … The government has not … |
May 01, 2017 at 06:11AM
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The News International |
Weighing up returns
The News International The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government is contemplating various proposals to make available required funds for its populist fifth and last budget to be presented in the national assembly on May 26 this year. The bigger challenge, however … |
May 01, 2017 at 06:11AM
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Pakistan Today |
POL prices remain unchanged
Pakistan Observer The Finance Minister highlighted that the government has absorbed significant impact of price increases since April 2016 and has suffered considerable loss of revenue. During this period only partial increases have been passed on since December 2016. Prices of petroleum products to remain unchanged: Dar | Business …Geo News, Pakistan Petroleum prices to remain unchanged: DarPakistan Today Govt decides to keep POL prices unchanged for MayRadio Pakistan (press release) The Nation –The Express Tribune –ARY NEWS all 18 news articles » |
May 01, 2017 at 06:11AM
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The New Indian Express |
Corruption crusader Modi’s aversion to Lokpal confusing
The New Indian Express T he proposal for an anti-corruption ombudsman for the higher echelons of the government was floated by the then Union law minister Ashoke Sen in the early 1960s. The first Jan Lokpal Bill was passed in the Lok Sabha in 1969 but failed to get through … |
April 30, 2017 at 06:10AM
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Atlassian’s Customer Count Surges After Trello Acquisition — The …
Motley Fool The software company’s expensive acquisition boosted its subscriber base during the third quarter. Atlassian’s quarterly earnings show the cost of keeping staff …Business Insider Australia |
April 29, 2017 at 06:09AM
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