Three audiences, two brands, one voice

Sonic identities can solve interesting but (let’s face it) difficult branding challenges. Take for example, the story of Sun and its ubiquitous sibling Java.

The company’s two brands serve three audiences: developers, IT buyers and consumers. Creating clear communications is a task that’s never simple. Sun employed the use of brand-based music and sound to connect the dots.

How? One single, overarching melody serves as the foundation for the company’s sonic identity. Each audience, however, gets its own derivative, with slight modifications in tempo, timbre and orchestration.

This flexible solution allows the company to ‘dial up or dial down’ certain aspects of its brand personality—now and in the future—without the need to reinvent the wheel. And in the end, everyone who hears the sound of Sun and Java hears the same brand-based melody, only adjusted for context.

This full-scale sonic identity system, directed by Sonic ID’s Noel Franus and created by Elias Arts and Downstream, includes guidelines and additional brand-based audio assets covering advertising, cell phones, startup sounds, events and music on hold.

More: see the case study presented at the AIGA Gain conference: http://tinyurl.com/56urbh