Sonic branding is evolving fast, in this session 3 jingle production companies give their take on what works and what you should be doing in audio production.
Lee Price, moderator, asked are clients still asking for the same thing. Matt Fisher, Creative Producer at Wise Buddah said they are still being asked for things like top of hours but also ramps and stand alone sonics in every key and BPM, so similar requests but deliverables have scaled up. He said his favourite type of jingle will always be a power intro and played audio of Greg James talking about power intros on BBC Radio 1 after a caller asked for a copy of it. Greg James then continued this conversation on his podcast, and Matt said this is the power of connection.
Lee then asked Thomas Giger, Branding Consultant and Partner at Pure Jingles for their take on it. Thomas said they love sonic branding because you get to play around with it – you can tell a story in a power intro and stamp your brand on a song your audience knows and loves, people will remember it and sing along in their head so when they hear the song somewhere else they will hear your hook, even if it is on another station. He added jingle packages are the core of a station’s branding and research says sung melodies are more impactful than just sonic or dry sweeper.
Lee asked Tom Van der Biest, Brandy’s Creative Director, how branding has evolved. Tom said they fuse much more – branding and songs becoming one thing and stations right now expect huge production values, character and artistry, but there are others who start from the brand values and create sound from that instead of the music.
When asked, Tom said he is proud of classical work they have done as it is so different from CHR or AC jingles but they still need to infuse same functionality. Thomas said he is proud the work Pure Jingles had done for Capital and Matt said his work in binaural and immersive sound for the BBC was what he was most proud of as well as ad insertion technology for jingles and is bringing that to Wise Buddah.
There was a discussion on the relationship between station and jingle provider, all agreed it is getting stronger and there is more working together rather than just asking and delivering. Also what they deliver is usually a toolbox – different sounds or items for different dayparts or moods. Each talked about some long-term relationships they had and how they had evolved.
Lee asked about AI and workflow and they said they had all embraced AI in different ways but they didn’t think it would ever replace human creativity, evoking emotion and creating magic.
When asked about where things are heading, Matt said he is excited about in-car being the second living room, adding Dolby research suggests there is a greater expectation for quality for in-car than there is for the cinema. Thomas said he is excited about dynamic imaging, inserting imaging for the right songs by using AI tools.
The session ended by each person saying what they thought the most important take aways are.
Matt: know your brand inside out, plan for evolution (not just launch) and think beyond radio
Thomas: master the basics, less is more and claim your position consistently and programme well – optimize the imaging rotation
image © Afroditi Zaggana
Tom: listen as a listener, aim for varied consistency and never underestimate the power of music
