As I mentioned in yesterday’s article, the voice assistants and how companies will need more and more a voice for themselves, a conversation emerged between a reader (DH) and I. It went like this:

DH: Interesting. With the rise of voice assistants and thinking about where that’s going to lead us, yes, I can see (or should that be hear) how voice is going to become part of companies’ brands.

Ch Daniel: I had another idea on my mind: companies have sounds already. Think BMW (loved the old one, hate the new one)

Or Pixar. McDonalds. Most famously, MGM’s lion.

Depending on your imagination, you’ve “played” these sounds in your head as you read them. It may sound a bit weird if I say now that in a few decades we’ll be able to tell companies voices but I’m pretty sure we’ll be there…

DH: I was thinking about the voicemail interfaces of the different mobile network operators – the speech that guides you through the different menus. I guess those are specific examples of voice guided menu systems in general.

And then there are the obvious voice identities like the ones on TV and radio shows, the voice of news anchors etc. and the voice-overs in commercials etc.

Slightly unrelated, but this reminds me of this YouTube video on sonic branding:

My $0.02

I think the video linked by DH has to be watched as at least some of them will evoke some emotions. The Lumière Brothers’ “Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat” was, some say, the first screening ever. It’s a bit of a stretch for us to imagine how it’d be like to have never seen a movie before, but here’s how people reacted to it.

Why don’t we get scared today? We’ve been desensitised in a sense, if we are to be compared to those in 1895.

In the same way, we will be desensitised in a few years when more and more companies will adopt their audio logos. Now we’re listening to THX’s intro, or MGM’s or McDonald’s and we can get goosebumps. I got when I heard THX’s sound in the Youtube video I linked above.

Give it a few years and we’ll think of my goosebumps as we think now of these who get scared seeing a moving picture consisting of a train.

To end this article, I want to note this is definitely not the only time I’ll talk about companies and their audio dimension. I’ll just mark this piece as a “part 1”.

How does yours sound like?

About Ch Daniel

I run chagency, an experiences design agency that specialises on helping tech CEOs reduce user churn. We believe experiences are not only the reason why users choose not to leave but also what generates word of mouth. We’re building a credo around this belief.

If I’ve brought you any kind of value, follow me and get in touch here: LinkedIn | Twitter | Email

I’ve also created an infinitely-valuable app for sneaker/fashion enthusiasts called Legit Check that impacted hundreds of thousands over millions of times – check it out at chdaniel.com/app

Please share this with someone and subscribe to our newsletter!— helps us keep pumping content?

Illustration Credit: Neil V. Fernando