The sound effect affecting brand sales

Mike Constantino

What does your brand sound like?

This was the question posed to brand marketers at the recent Digital Conference (DigiCon DX) 2017 during one of the event’s breakout sessions on “How Music Correlates to Consumer Behavior.”

The talk was held by Mike Constantino, founder and managing director of music agency Homonym, which he described as a hybrid startup that combines music and business, allowing for “a very unique approach in terms of creation.”

“A lot of marketers’ first goal is visual identity. The first thought is ‘Let’s make a logo,’” Constantino said. “[But] what does your brand sound like? Combining those two, we will make you figure out exactly how your approach to engaging target audience should be.”

Using a “music-first approach,” Homonym, explained Constantino, would help brands find their sonic identity.

Citing a study on how musical preferences reveal one’s true identity by social psychologists and professors, Samuel Gosling and Peter Rentfrow of the University of Texas at Austin and University of Cambridge, respectively, Constantino said people can be divided into psychographic profiles based on their musical tastes, which dictate the decisions they make in life, such as their personal purchases.

For example, those who like classical, jazz, blues and folk music are classified as reflective and complex; the alternative, rock and heavy metal fans, intense and rebellious; the country, pop, religious and soundtrack listeners, upbeat and conventional; and those who go for rap/hip-hop, soul/funk, and electronica/dance are described as energetic and rhythmic.

“[Gosling and Rentfrow] surveyed 3,500 individuals [and found that] regardless of country, demographic, age group, income classification, race, all human beings, neurologically, are wired the exact same way. I fall under energetic and rhythmic,” said Constantino.

Applying this knowledge to one of their discontinued campaigns for Samsung’s 360 Omnidirectional Speakers, Homonym created a sonic identity for each of the four products and assigned their respective target markets: the R7, the most expensive one, is targeted toward artsy creative folks, ones who listen to songs such as “The Way Young Lovers Do” by Van Morrison; the R6, to the romantic and outgoing, such bachelors and bachelorettes who listen to EMD music such as “Around the Block feat. Talib Kweli” by Pretty Lights; the R3, to the cheerful and classic (the home buddies and homemakers) who like Taylor Swift; and the R1, the lowest-end speaker, to the energetic and adventurous (think college kids), who go for artists like British rock band Foals.

Another music-related psychology-based approach brand marketers can use in their campaigns is the 14-24 approach, which basically says that a lot of one’s personal identity is shaped by the music they listened to when they were 14 t0 24 years old.

“When I hear Spice Girls, even if I don’t want to admit it, I have a reaction, because that was my 14-24,” Constantino said.

Asked if he had encountered any brands here in the country that knew full well its sonic identity, Constantino replied: “None. They don’t know what their brand sounds like. And I think this is the future of marketing. You have to complete what your whole brand’s character is. Your video will be lacking if it doesn’t have a soundtrack … music just completes the picture.”

Finally, he suggested that marketers take a music-first approach when creating campaigns, which he said would help boost one’s sales.

“There are many studies about this. If you match the music to what your brand identity is, the visual identity, and then consider what the music preference of your target audience is and merge those two, your sales will soar,” he said. “In terms of the creative process, music-first approach allows one to figure out [the campaign’s execution] even before you write a storyboard. You’ll know who to cast, what the video’s tone will be. Your editor will know what to do, too. Your director, cinematographer will know exactly how to shoot it because they know the vibe of the song.”

Constantino was one of the over 70 speakers at the DigiCon DX 2017, which was organized by the Internet Mobile and Marketing Association of the Philippines (IMMAP). It is the group’s second year to host such event for the country’s marketing practitioners.