MassiveMusic and SoundOut Launch World's First Data-Driven Sonic Branding Tool 

MassiveMusic, the world’s leading international creative music agency, and SoundOut, a trusted world leader in music testing, today announce the launch of a revolutionary new sonic branding tool that combines art and science and predicts success in recall, distinctiveness and connection to brand personality.

Underpinned by a rigorous scientific approach, the new tool called MassiveBASS (Brand Attribute Sound System) powered by SoundOut technology, offers marketers the unique capability of matching their brand values to music. With input from more than half a million consumers and advanced data science, the tool removes subjectivity and helps marketers understand how to achieve real effectiveness in a strong sonic brand and unlock further brand-building opportunities. 

Sonic branding is becoming increasingly important for brands to cut through the noise and build an instant emotional connection with consumers. Many brands are still missing crucial opportunities to be ‘heard’, despite the influx of digital technologies.

Mapping the emotional DNA of music 

MassiveMusic and SoundOut have spent almost a year mapping the emotional DNA of music - how it makes us feel when we hear certain sounds. Together they tested hundreds of sound assets against more than 200 different values (such as trusted, authentic, cool, desirable, bold, disruptive, fun) with more than 500,000 consumers. Advanced data science was then used to map the correlations between each value tested in the context of music.  

How does it work 

The way brands usually engage with consumers is by defining their core values and the tone of their communication. For example, Volvo’s brand is all about safety, Mercedes about luxury, BMW about performance. Additionally, brands often use Jungian archetypes to define and guide their strategy. Nike is the Hero, Disney the Magician and Harley Davidson the Outlaw.

MassiveBASS matches the right sounds to a brand’s core values and archetypes offering musical combinations that not only align with the brand but also reveal those more likely to be memorable and recalled by consumers. 

The tool then ranks the sonic assets on the closest match. Agencies and brands can then identify the sounds that best deliver on the chosen brief and offer a creative direction that can be pursued to create a new and unique sonic identity, underpinned by data and strategy- helping achieve real effectiveness.

Marijn Roozemond, senior creative strategist at MassiveMusic, explains: “Benchmarking a brand’s sound to its core values is something we have pioneered for years. To now be able to prove the effectiveness using a scientific tool is really groundbreaking for sonic branding. Briefing composers to create original sonic branding is notoriously difficult because music is subjective. This tool is designed to be used early in the process to help inform the creative routes and maximise the chances of strong engagement and recall.”

David Courtier-Dutton, CEO at SoundOut, says: “Brands have traditionally looked at the sound of their sector as the benchmark rather than the brand’s own personality and archetypes. This often results in a non-strategic and ineffective asset. MassiveBASS is a uniquely powerful tool that removes subjectivity. If a brand is going to invest money, it needs a working asset that not only contributes to the overall brand-building but also offers marketers the ability to measure real effectiveness.”