Sonic Branding: The Power of Sound in Marketing
Introduction to Sonic Branding. What is Sonic Branding?
In today’s crowded and competitive market, creating a unique and memorable brand identity is essential for businesses of all sizes. While visual branding is important, sonic branding can be just as powerful, if not more so, in creating an emotional connection with customers and building a strong brand image.
So, what is the sonic branding definition and where can it be used? Sonic branding refers to the use of sound and music in branding and marketing. It can be used in various forms of media, such as TV and radio commercials, video content, and even in-store soundscapes.
WithFeeling is a sonic branding agency, a company that specialises in creating and implementing sound-based branding strategies for businesses. Agencies like us have a team of experts in sound design, music composition, and branding, and can help businesses create a cohesive and memorable brand identity through the use of sound.
What makes a good sonic logo? A good sonic logo should be memorable, distinctive, and easily recognisable. It should also align with the brand’s visual identity and communicate the brand’s values and personality. To create a strong sonic logo, it’s important to consider factors such as the tempo, melody, and instrumentation used, as well as the length and repetition of the sound.
The Elements of Sonic Branding
Creating a brand of sound is a process that involves defining the brand’s personality and values, identifying the target audience, and developing a soundscape that aligns with these elements. This can include creating a sonic logo, selecting background music for commercials and videos, and designing soundscapes for in-store and online experiences.
The Cost of Sonic Branding
The cost of sonic branding can vary greatly depending on the scope and complexity of the project, as well as the experience and reputation of the sonic branding agency. However, it’s important to remember that investing in a strong sonic brand can pay off in the long run by creating a more memorable and emotionally impactful brand identity.
Sonic branding you already know
One of the most famous examples of sonic branding is the iconic “Intel bong” sound that has been used in Intel commercials for over 20 years. This simple and recognisable sound has become synonymous with the brand and helps create an immediate association with the company.
McDonald’s is the other one everybody can hum. The five note “ba da ba ba ba” has long outlived the campaign that introduced it, and that is the point: the jingle was advertising, the five notes became the brand. It is the clearest illustration of the line between a campaign track and a sonic logo, and of why the short asset is the one worth owning.
If you want the process rather than the examples, our approach to building one, from auditing what a brand already sounds like to keeping it alive years after launch, is set out on our sonic branding page.
Sonic vs. Visual Marketing
The debate of whether sonic or visual marketing is better is ongoing, but many experts agree that the best approach is to use a combination of both. Visual branding can create a visual representation of the brand, while sonic branding can create an emotional connection with customers.
The strategy for sonic branding is similar to that of visual branding, as it involves defining the
brand’s personality and values, identifying the target audience, and creating a soundscape that aligns with these elements. This can include creating a sonic logo, selecting background music for commercials and videos, and designing soundscapes for in-store and online experiences.
WithFeeling – Sonic Branding Experts
Are you looking for a way to differentiate yourself from the competition and leave a lasting impression on your clients? There is no need to look any further than WithFeeling, the top sonic branding company in the UAE. We work with companies to use music to liven up their brands.
By utilising the power of sound and music, we bring brands to life. Making the “Dare to Dream” sonic identity for the Mohammed Bin Rashid Library was one of our most recent projects (MBRL). This instrumental honours the rich Arabic history while also capturing the essence, creativity, and significance of MBRL.
Our work with Dubai Racing Club demonstrates that we are experts in audio branding for sports. The excitement and energy of live horse racing are expertly captured by the distinctive and potent sound identity we developed.
But what is an audio branding company? Simply put, an audio branding business develops a distinctive sound to represent a brand and its core principles. To elicit feelings and forge a strong connection with the target audience, this sound is used in advertisements, events, and other marketing materials.
Why does sonic branding work?
Why is sonic branding so successful? Sonic branding can be successful because sound has the ability to evoke emotions and create a stronger and more memorable connection with customers. This emotional connection can make a brand more memorable and increase customer loyalty.
The reason sits in how the brain files sound. Hearing is fast and involuntary: you cannot look away from a sound the way you can look away from a screen, and what you hear arrives bundled with the feeling you had at the time. That is why a few notes can return you to a place, a person or a year. A brand that owns a piece of music owns a shortcut to memory that a logo on a page cannot reach.
The measurable part is consistency. Veritonic’s Audio Logo Index, which scores audio logos on recall, correct association to the brand and creative resonance, found that brands using their audio logo consistently record 88% higher recall than brands that rarely or never use theirs, and score around 10% higher for creative resonance. The asset is only half of the job. The half that pays is using it everywhere, every time, for years, which is why a sonic identity is delivered with a usage guide rather than as a single file.
That matters more now than it did ten years ago. Voice assistants, podcasts, streaming and sound-on short form video have given brands more places to be heard than at any point in their history, and most brands are still silent in all of them. A company with no considered sound is not neutral in those moments, it is simply absent.
Islamic Arts Biennale: Sonic Identity
Our award-winning sonic identity for the Islamic Arts Biennale 2025 gave one of Saudi Arabia’s landmark cultural events its own distinctive voice, a living soundscape that carried the spirit of contemporary Islamic art through every space. See the Islamic Arts Biennale project.
A sonic logo is the sound version of a visual logo. It is also called a sound logo or audio branding. It’s not just a simple jingle or a string of notes; it’s a sophisticated, detailed sound with a story and a point. As a former Creative Director, I know how important a strong audio identity is and how it can be used across multiple touchpoints, from the classic TV and radio ads to in-store, on-site audio and a lot more.
Ministry of Tourism, Saudi Arabia: Sonic Identity
We crafted the sonic identity for Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Tourism, giving the Kingdom’s global tourism brand an instantly recognisable, ownable sound as it welcomes the world. See the Ministry of Tourism project.
Your Bazaar: Sonic Branding
Our sonic branding for Your Bazaar shows how the right sound elevates a brand’s identity and deepens its connection with an audience, a complete sonic toolkit built for engagement. See the Your Bazaar project.
Final Thoughts on Sonic Branding.
Sonic branding is a powerful tool for businesses looking to create a unique and memorable brand identity. Whether you are creating a sonic logo, selecting background music for commercials, or designing soundscapes for in-store and online experiences, investing in a strong sonic brand can pay off in the long run by creating a more emotionally impactful brand identity.
Select WithFeeling as your partner for audio branding and discover the power of sound for your company.
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And when the conversation turns to budget, we price the work openly in what sonic branding costs.
Our sonic branding work, part of the WithFeeling portfolio.
View case study ↗Our sonic branding work, part of the WithFeeling portfolio.
View case study ↗Our sonic branding work, part of the WithFeeling portfolio.
View case study ↗Go deeper with our guides to building a sound identity and musical intelligence.
Sonic Branding FAQs
Sonic branding is the strategic use of sound to make a brand recognisable: a sonic logo, a brand track, and the audio cues used across advertising, apps, products and spaces, all built from one consistent musical identity so people know the brand by ear.
A complete sonic identity usually includes a hero brand track, a sonic logo in short and long versions, cut-downs at standard advertising lengths, adaptations for different moods and instrumentation, stems for editors, and a usage guide so every team applies the sound the same way.
At WithFeeling, a sonic logo and brand track, the core of a full sonic identity, typically ranges from $13,500 to $82,000+ (50,000 to 300,000+ AED). Where a project lands depends on scope: add audience testing, musicology, a full sonic system and multiple adaptations across markets, and the investment can be considerably more.
A jingle is a single piece of advertising music, usually with lyrics, tied to one campaign. A sonic identity is a system: a signature melody and sound palette designed to last for years and work across every touchpoint, from a two-second app sound to a full anthem.
Yes. Sound is processed faster than visuals and stored with emotion, which is why sonic identities like Intel, McDonald’s and Netflix are recognised in under a second. Well-built sonic assets consistently score higher for recall and brand attribution than the same ads without them.
Recent WithFeeling examples include the Islamic Arts Biennale identity (Gold at the International Sound Awards, Bronze at the Clio Music Awards), the Ministry of Tourism of Saudi Arabia’s sound of Saudi, and Your Bazaar (Gold at the Transform Awards MEA). Globally, Intel, McDonald’s and Netflix remain the benchmark sonic logos.
Sonic branding is also called audio branding, sound branding or acoustic branding, and the finished asset set is often called a sonic identity or an audio identity. The terms are used interchangeably. Sonic branding and audio branding are the two most common in the industry, and they describe the same discipline: designing how a brand sounds, then applying it consistently across every touchpoint.
A sonic strategy is the plan that comes before any music is written. It defines what the brand should sound like and why, which audiences and markets the sound has to work for, which touchpoints it will appear in, from advertising to apps to physical spaces, and how success will be measured after launch. The strategy is what stops a sonic identity becoming a nice piece of music that nobody uses.
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