Every Brand Knows How They Look, Very Few Know How They Sound

Most brands invest heavily in how they look. Logos, colour palettes, typography and visual systems are carefully crafted and protected. But the brands that truly stay in people’s minds don’t just look consistent — they sound consistent too.

In Episode 2 of Herd Mentality, I spoke to Brittney Rigby spoke with Aaron Matthews, our Creative Director, about the emotion, science, and discipline behind great sonic branding — and why sound is still one of the most underused brand-building tools.

Sonic Branding Starts With How a Brand Should Feel

According to Aaron, sonic branding doesn’t begin with music styles or production techniques. It begins with emotion.

Great audio branding translates a brand’s personality, tone of voice, and values into sound. That could be a sonic logo, a music system, a distinctive voice, or a broader audio identity that runs across every touchpoint.

As Aaron explains:

“It’s about making someone feel something. That’s the great thing about audio — it creates emotion and connection in a way visuals alone can’t.”

The challenge is that most brands already know how they want to feel — they just haven’t defined what that feeling sounds like. Tone of voice often lives in brand guidelines, but rarely gets translated into an audible experience.

Why Sound Sticks in Memory

We don’t walk around recalling logos or fonts from memory. But we do hum jingles, recognise brand sounds instantly, and feel emotional reactions to familiar audio cues.

Sound has a unique ability to trigger memory and emotion quickly. It reaches people in moments when they aren’t even looking at a screen — in the car, while cooking, or scrolling.

As Aaron puts it:

“You can ignore a visual logo. But once you hear something, you can’t unhear it. That’s why audio builds memory so effectively.”

This is where sonic branding becomes more than creative garnish — it becomes a powerful memory structure that helps brands stay top of mind over time.

Consistency Is Where Sonic Branding Becomes Powerful

One of the biggest missed opportunities in marketing is inconsistency in sound. Brands are strict about visual guidelines, yet often change music, voiceovers, or audio style from campaign to campaign.

Aaron believes this is where brands lose long-term impact:

“You’d never use different logos, colours or fonts across different channels. So why would you use different music, different voiceovers, or a different sonic identity?”

The brands that win with sound treat it as brand infrastructure, not campaign decoration. Their audio shows up everywhere — in ads, content, social, retail, and beyond — always recognisable, even when adapted.

Repetition, not reinvention, is what turns sound into cultural memory.

Sonic Branding Is a System, Not Just a Jingle

A common misconception is that sonic branding is just a three-second logo at the end of an ad. In reality, it’s much broader.

At Original Audio, the goal is to create a flexible sonic system: music themes, sound design, voice direction, and brand-defining audio elements that work across every channel.

Aaron describes it as more like an album than a single track — different pieces, but all connected by the same DNA.

“We’re not just creating one little sonic logo. We’re building a suite of assets that can stretch across every touchpoint and still sound like the same brand.”

Why Audio Is Still an Afterthought

Despite its impact, audio often enters the process late. Visual campaigns are developed first, and sound is layered on at the end.

That approach limits what audio can do. When sound is considered from the start, it becomes a strategic tool that ties campaigns, platforms, and experiences together.

“If you built sound into the process from the beginning, not at the end, you’d get consistency across everything. That’s where the real brand power is.”

The Takeaway

Every brand already has a visual identity. The brands that build deeper, longer-lasting connections go further — they define how they sound and use that sound consistently.

Sonic branding isn’t just about ads. It’s about creating an audio identity that lives everywhere your brand does.

Because in the end, the brands we remember don’t just look familiar.They sound familiar too.

SoundOn is Original Audio's audio branding package, to find out more click below or drop us a message here.