What Does Your Brand Sound Like

Leading financial brands are donning ‘sound ids’ to gear up for a world where voice is taking over search, commerce & a brand has mere seconds to leave a lasting impression

- Noor Fathima Warsia

TRANSACTION complete’ — in a world of cashless payment that has moved from swipe and insert to now even just a tap in the physical realm and different kinds of online payments, it’s the age of the multisensory. The few seconds accompanying those two words pack in a range of emotions, presenting a small window for financial brands to connect with their consumers.

This “sense of completion”, as Visa’s CMO Lynne Biggar calls it, in a “voice world”, as described by Mastercard Global CMO Raja Rajamannar, begs the all-important question, according to HSBC’s global head of advertising and marketing communications Andrea Newman — “what does a brand sound like”?

In the last two years, these are some of the brands that began a global journey looking at their brand identities, wherein sound became more critical than ever.

Sound Id: Not a Jingle Earlier this year, HSBC teamed up with worldrenowned artist JeanMichel Jarre to create a complete sound identity and sound signature. A pioneer of electronic music who has sold over 80 million records, Jarre has created various versions of the brand’s sound identity to be used for different brand moments, touch points and across multiple global platforms.