Having recently developed an identity programme for UBI Banca, the result of a number of mergers and now the fourth largest bank in Italy, our partner Lumen was commissioned to develop an audio brand to reinforce the values expressed by the graphic work.

As a fully integrated partner, MILDBERRY — drawing on expertise in London and Belgium — delivered a comprehensive audio brand for Lumen helping them offer a much broader branding solution and making UBI Banca the first bank in Italy to use audio branding — and as part of a brand strategy…

At MILDBERRY, being at the forefront of the branding industry, we understand that identity is a much broader discipline than even just a few years ago. Technology continually brings new opportunities and challenges; while the market sets new standards and benchmarks. Today’s brand developer has to think in innovative new ways, and consider all consumer touch points including an audio environment that often relegates the visual brand to a secondary role or even replaces it entirely.

Of course there is nothing new under the sun, and audio branding, or sound branding, or sonic branding — take your pick — has been around in one form or another for over 100 years. From the early days of radio, cinema and television advertising, jingles were used to make products more memorable and stand out from the competition.

This radio ad for Pepsi Cola is from 1939.

But these would rarely, if ever, be created as part of a brand strategy — often used tactically as part of a campaign. Today, audio branding needs to not only create brand expressions in sound, but also ensure consistent and strategic use of these across all available touch points.

One of the best example of audio branding.

The project started by understanding the UBI brand, researching the market and creating the audio brief.

This involved looking at the brand values already established, seeing if there were any sounds historically connected with the brand, or any of the pre-merger brands, which other banking brands were using audio and what touch points might be relevant.

The competitive audit resulted in a short-list of banking brands using some degree of audio branding — mainly in advertising — and none in Italy. In the main, the use of audio was fairly haphazard, changing along with campaigns.

It was clear there existed an opportunity to create a strong brand expression, for UBI Banca, through consistent use of audio branding.

The challenge here was to create a “union of Solidity and Modernity”, essentially creating two distinct voices that work together.

This concept was expressed using a variety of sonic and melodic techniques which were combined to create a number of sound sketches from which a selection was made. Following feedback from the client a final audio logo was created.

The final audio logo:

The melodic and temporal qualities of the audio logo were developed further, again with client input, to create the anthem — the full expression of the audio brand — containing the logo or signature, the instrumentation and arrangement, style, emotion speed and tempo. From this there applications were developed: