Show # 129 - Sound as Part of Your Brand Strategy

Show 129 of The Engaging Brand  podcast is now live, ready just for you - your own free, personal audio show aimed at helping you create that success in your career.

Today we talk to Ronna Porter and Michael Spencer of Sound Strategies. We talk about how the sound of your brand is important in connecting (and indeed engaging) your customers. Here is a link to their daily blog. Ronna and Michael talk us through how to align your audio to your brand values, the evolution of sound within our lives and also how to improve employee engagement with audio.

Remember to hop over to The Engaging Brand facebook group - and add your thoughts to the conversation!  If you have feedback on the show or want to contribute to the new leadership tip section then record an audio message by clicking on the recorder on the side of the blog or e-mail me at [email protected].

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Comments

[Mike O'Hara]

Hi Anna

Congrats on another excellent interview. Really enjoyed this one.

Cheers
Mike

[Anna Farmery]

Mike thank you. I try and combine the shows not only to learn about business but to get people thinking about life...I enjoyed this one too as it made me think about sound in a different way, for instance I had never thought about silence as a powerful sound. Glad you enjoyed the show

[Uncle Drew]

Hi Anna,

Love your show as always but have to question the claim of one of your guests that Japanese students he was teaching were giving him the BBC "victory sign" and mimicking the sound that was broadcast during the War. How on earth would they be familiar this?

That's a bit far fetched, don't you think?

If there's an explanation I'd be curious to hear it.

Uncle Drew

[Anna Farmery]

Thank you so much for your comment and so glad that you are enjoying the podcasts. I love getting feedback like that!

I have posed the question to Michael so lets see what he says!

[Michael Spencer]

Hello Uncle Drew,

This came from many long hours of conversation with my Japanese colleagues (I spend large chunks of the year out there).

The 'V' sign is not a part of traditional Japanese culture, and in fact there is no exact 'V' sound in the Japanese language. It is an acquired gesture, and the origins point directly back to Churchill who is credited with the creation of the sign as a potent and iconic symbol for victory. (It has to be said that this is not the only acquisition of Western culture to be found in Japan. For example the traditional graduation song 'Hotaru no Hikari', the light of the fireflies, might remind you of something else! Couldn't find a better version...sorry. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgZAsNkN_iQ)

The fact that the sign in all its forms became so widespread was due in no small part to the way in which it was promoted via the BBC when radio was the most available form of mass communication during the war years. But it was the way in which the combination of word, image and sound worked together, whether intentionally or not, that created such an effective and resilient effect.

Another snippet you might also like to consider as an exemplar of viral distribution is the 'Shave and a haircut...two bits' knock-on-the-door that my father and seemingly everybody else's did when they wanted to announce their arrival.

In seminars I have presented around the world I use this as a simple experiment to demonstrate the way in which sound can seed itself in the most unexpected ways. In Korea, Japan, America, South Africa...everyone knows this little motif but not necessarily its.....19th century British Music Hall, or so the research to date tells us.

I hope that this helps
Michael

[Uncle Drew]

Hi Michael,

I have no doubts about the ubiquity of the V for victory, just find it hard to believe that the Japanese students would know the sound associated with it.

As for the origins of the V, I'm sure the BBC broadcasts reinforced it at its inception so I know where you're coming from there.

Best,

Uncle Drew