04 – Sonic Branding Insights, TU Dublin Incoming MSc Students

Daryl (Host): Howdy, and welcome to the Irish Marketing Podcast, powered by IMJ and Tinpot Productions — Daryl from Tinpot here. On today’s pod, we’ll be talking to Keith Lawler, Creative Director of Loud House, a sonic branding house specialising in creating audio niceties for brands. We’ll dig into the idea behind sonic branding from a broad perspective —

Keith Lawler: Your visual toolkit has logos, it has photography, it has colour schemes, it has font — it has so many different systems. Music and sound should have that too.

Daryl (Host): — and the specifics, with a great audio teardown of some examples from a recent project for Foxes Bow in Limerick. We’ll also be talking to four students from this year’s Masters in Advertising and Creativity course, perhaps future industry inductees, to get their thoughts at a particular moment in time as they start their journey into the industry.

Student: Honestly, I love a weird ad — I love an ad that’s professionally done, very well thought out, but it’s just a bit strange, you’re like, why would they make that?

Daryl (Host): That’s the second half of the pod, but before we get to that — one of the things we want to cover on this podcast is not just the end output in terms of advertising campaigns, but the components that go into making them happen, whether that’s behind-the-scenes production or a creative point of view. Our first interview is a good example, with Keith Lawler in studio, Creative Director at Loud House. Before we dive in, Keith, can you give us an overview of your background and how it’s brought you to where you are with Loud House?

Keith Lawler: Yeah, sure. So I started off in music, gosh, 20 years ago now — I was in a band called Give a Man a Kick. I quickly realised that at a certain age we’d achieved everything we wanted to achieve, and I wanted to try something new. I’d just finished college doing visual communications at Limerick School of Art and Design, and wanted to see where that could take me. So I got into advertising — very soon after that I started working as an intern in Dublin [agency name unclear in the audio], and worked my way up. I moved to Dubai after two years — took the opportunity, which was really interesting, a real eye-opener, everything was huge, incredible experiences. Loved that. Then I came back from Dubai and joined what was called Target McConnells at the time. In the back of my mind I really wanted to marry advertising and music again, and I noticed all my clients were asking for the same thing without really knowing exactly what it was — cohesive, distinct assets that are owned by them, that create memory and engagement for customers. We were working really hard creating those in a visual world, and I felt music was overlooked in that space. I started looking into sonic branding, and it became obvious to me that’s something brands had overlooked — which is kind of imperative in today’s world, where everything is so engaged, and social media is a “sound-on” platform.

Daryl (Host): Can we dig into that phrase — sonic branding, or sonic identity? Everybody probably has some idea or notion of it, but just to clarify: it’s over and above picking a piece of production music that you feel aligns with your brand — it’s something more detailed and involved than that?

Keith Lawler: Yeah, sure. I’d define it as any sound that signifies the presence of a brand. That can be a sonic logo, the sting at the end of a piece of advertising — the most famous ones we all know, the Netflix “ta-dum.” Think about it from a visual point of view: your visual toolkit has logos, photography, colour schemes, font — so many different systems that ladder up to the identity of the brand. Music and sound should have that too. I always go back to James Bond as one of the most perfect sonic brands that exists — created in the ’60s, and there’ve been 25 different versions of the Bond theme since, by 25 different artists, all coming from completely disparate backgrounds — totally diverse, but they all sound like Bond, even though the songs sound completely different. That’s because they all have the same sonic DNA. At Loud House, we have a framework we work to called the LOUDER framework. The first element is “L,” for Listening and Learning — that’s where we listen to everywhere a brand makes sound. If it’s an airline, sure, there’s advertising, communications — but then how do they show up on board the plane? What voices do you hear when you land? What sounds accompany them online, on social? That differs completely again to a high street store. The psychology of sound and music is hugely important, and depends on where the brand needs to show up — that’s the second part, the audit.

Daryl (Host): I want to move from the broad to the specific — the recent campaign you did for Foxes Bow Irish Whiskey. For someone who hasn’t gone on this journey around sound and sonic identity, can you talk us through the process — I know you’ve got some audio to illustrate it — from initial brief through to finished output, and the stages in between?

Keith Lawler: Foxes Bow are a brilliant, up-and-coming, innovative company. Their brand is all about standing out from the shelf — visually, the category is a sea of sameness, generally green, brown, black, dark. They said, if that’s the way the category is, we’re going the other way — neon pink, lots of colour. They’d say they want to be the first drink of the night, not the last. We started designing based on some of those distinct things — the founders themselves are really into ’90s hip hop, sneaker culture, hip hop sampling, that kind of stuff, and that was coming through clearly in their visual language. So we took that on board and built what we call a “loud board” — basically a sonic mood board. What we wanted to create for them was the sonic logo first, then a brand theme — about two minutes of music with different moods, different feels, different vibes in it. After that we do what’s kind of like a little album, taking the brand theme and doing versions of the songs — for example, if they sponsor a sports team, there’s a piece of music appropriate for that, or if they’ve got a CSR initiative, a piano version is more appropriate. Let me see if you can hear this — this is the brand theme. Right from the start you’re hearing crowds — this was recorded in an alley at the side of a nightclub, which was really reflective of the audience we’re trying to appeal to. You’re also hearing [vocal sounds unclear in the audio] — that’s a Limerick accent, tons of effects on it. The drum sound itself — the bass drum you’re hearing right now — that’s a bottle cork being popped, then tuned way down. And then there’s loads of links, loads of whiskey being poured into a glass with ice.

Daryl (Host): So it really is very bespoke sound design — it’s not just about creating sounds that are aligned with the brand, they’re very tightly integrated with it. Is that always the case — that you’d go and look at geographical things, locations and so on — or is that something you’d do for one brand and not another?

Keith Lawler: I think it’s really about understanding the brand. Every brand has an accent, just like every human being has an accent that’s reflective of their background, their community, their family, where they came from — it all ladders up to the accent that’s presented to people. It’s about capturing that.

Daryl (Host): Thanks to Keith Lawler from Loud House — you just heard the sonic logo they produced for Foxes Bow there at the end, and some audio components throughout the interview.

TU Dublin Masters in Advertising and Creativity — Incoming Student Panel

Daryl (Host): Now, the Masters in Advertising and Creativity at TU Dublin recently started with its new cohort of students. I’d say the course has given many students their first taste of advertising, and quite a few graduates have gone on to work in the industry too, so we thought it might be interesting to get the perspective of people just starting the course. What I wanted to do was get a snapshot of their thoughts before they’d had a chance to immerse themselves fully — that unfiltered view is interesting, and we’d hope to interview them again in a year’s time, post-Masters, to see how their expectations and understanding have evolved. With that in mind, we invited Tiziana, Ellen and Owen to join us in studio, and it went a bit like this.

Daryl (Host): All of you, in your journey in marketing — regardless of whether that starts with this course or at undergraduate level — are passing from being a consumer of media, marketing and advertising, to a creator of it. That’s a very different perspective, because one is a passive approach, where information is coming at you, whereas as a practitioner, you’re creating the media, creating the marketing — a totally different mindset. Have you thought about how your perspective might change? We’ll start with you.

Student: I’d be like an impulsive buyer if I see something I like — it’s not really that I understand the science behind it, I’m just like, oh, I like the look of that, I might go and buy it. So by the end of this course, it’d be nice to have some knowledge of what they’re really trying to do to my brain, and how they’re trying to get me to interact with the ad.

Daryl (Host): And of course, it’ll be you doing it to people’s brains in time to come, won’t it?

Student: That’s very true — even better to have it done to myself, first, I suppose.

Daryl (Host): Same question to you — do you think your perspective might change as you get into the Masters course?

Student: For me, I’ve always paid attention to ads, because my parents have their own business, and my brother is dedicated to marketing as well, so I always paid attention to that. Before, I used to think about what public they’re trying to reach, what message, what channels they’re in. But now I’m seeing more of the creative side — what was the idea, how was it planned — in Argentina it’s maybe more straightforward, less creative, I’d say.

Daryl (Host): You’re all presumably in your mid-to-late 20s, of a certain generation — I’m wondering, what advertising do you feel is effective, that works for you? What do you think makes for an effective ad now, and do you think that might change over time? We’ll start with you.

Student: Honestly, I love a weird ad — I love an ad that’s professionally done, very well thought out, but it’s just a bit strange, you’re like, why would they make that? Back around 2016, that era, Wendy’s on Twitter — they were posting like they weren’t a company, like they were just some random person, and everyone was like, what, why are they doing that? And I think that brought me towards — I’ve never been to America, never had Wendy’s — but I’m obsessed with the Wendy’s brand now.

Daryl (Host): Really stayed with you, even though that was — what, 2016, nine years ago?

Student: Exactly — it was just so weird, I was like, okay, I liked that.

Student: I think an ad that provokes emotion in people would be most effective for me. What comes to mind is, every year I look forward to the John Lewis Christmas ad — I remember watching them throughout the years, and I feel like I’ve cried after seeing most of them. It’s almost like a story you don’t want to end, even though you know it’s only going to be two minutes long.

Daryl (Host): You’ll all be working in the creative sector, a very unique sector, different in many ways to a lot of other industries. What do you think are the keys to success in creativity?

Student: I think it’s key to have a partner for this work — someone you have the confidence to say, “okay, that was a good idea,” or, “bad idea.”

Student: I’d say it’s probably about the same — having someone good to bounce off, or even a group of people you can just word-vomit everything out to. Another good one is having a thick skin — something you might think is the best idea in the world, and they’re like, no, that’s absolutely terrible. Just not taking it personally, and going, okay, start again.

Daryl (Host): And AI, being in that space now — are you at the stage where you can start to identify if something is AI as opposed to original, both from the point of view of consumer and producer? Are you seeing a lot of AI slop, stuff that just doesn’t connect because it’s iterative or generated? I’ll throw that open.

Student: I think our generation specifically — we were there when it first started to become big, so I feel we’re a lot more conscious of what to look for, like checking the fingers, looking for weird movements — we’re able to pick it out fairly easily. That said, it is becoming a lot bigger and more advanced, so it does get harder. But overall I think it’ll be very beneficial — as a tool to advance things, make things easier to make, I think it’ll be very effective.

Student: I think AI is incredible, and I think it’s brilliant, because it’s really helped people think outside the box — you can use it to give you commands, to create a visual for you. So I think AI has helped, as long as we don’t misuse it, and don’t use it for plagiarism — I think it’s an excellent tool to help you.

Daryl (Host): That’s a great note to finish our piece on, and I’d like to wish all four students the best of luck as they work through their Masters. That’s it for this week’s edition of the Irish Marketing Podcast, recorded, edited and mixed at Tinpot Production Studios. If you’ve got a story you’d like to hear featured on the pod, get in touch — contact details are in the show notes. Back next Friday, wherever you pick your pods. Thanks for listening.