What makes a good sound logo?
A good sound logo carries one meaning of the brand in a few seconds, and you still recognize it on a piano, in a choir or through a phone speaker. Start from what the brand has to mean, then write the notes. Howl makes sound logos together with the brand’s music, so the logo and the campaign track grow from one idea.
What a sound logo has to do
- Say one thing. A sound logo has room for one meaning. Pick it before anyone hums a melody.
- Fit an end card. It closes a film, so it lasts a few seconds and leaves space for the brand name.
- Survive every version. The same notes have to work in a slow version, a fast one, a single instrument and the last bar of the campaign track.
- Travel. You will hear it outside the film too: in an app, a store, a podcast or on hold.
How to brief a sound logo
- Write down the meaning. One sentence on what the brand has to feel like. That sentence is the brief, not a reference track.
- List where it plays. End cards, social, radio, the app, the store. Each place asks for its own version.
- Hear options on the picture. Ask for several options against the real end card and choose there, not in a meeting room.
- Agree the use. Put where and how long the brand uses it in the license, the same way you would for the campaign music.
Where Howl fits
Howl makes sound logos next to original music, re-recordings and syncs. For the Hyundai Palisade launch film we made an original score with no voice-over and delivered it with stems and four sound-logo options.
When the logo and the campaign music share notes, each one reminds people of the other. That is why we like to make them together. See also how to brief music for a commercial.
Questions
How long is a sound logo?
A few seconds, about the length of an end card. Long enough for one idea, short enough to repeat in every film.
What is the difference between a sound logo and a jingle?
A jingle is a short song, often with the brand name sung in it. A sound logo is a short musical signature, often without words, that closes a film and comes back in other places.
Should a sound logo come from the campaign music?
It helps. When the logo and the campaign track share notes, people connect the two without being told.
Does Howl make sound logos?
Yes. Howl makes sound logos together with original music, re-recordings and syncs, for example four sound-logo options with the Hyundai Palisade launch score.