SOUNDS LIKE
BRANDING HOW
TO USE THE POWER
OF MUSIC TO TURN
CUSTOMERSINTO FANSJAKOB LUSENSKY
BETA
VERSION

WWW.SOUNDSLIKEBRANDING.COM

IT ALL
BEGAN IN
TOKYO...

I’m eating dinner in one of Tokyo’s tallest
skyscrapers - 52 ﬂoors above the city’s pulsating,electronic light. But that’s not why I’m feeling a bit high.
The electric buzz from the previous night’s gig is stillrippling through my body. In a makeshift club-cum-ﬁshrestaurant in Tokyo’s Shibuya district, I witnessed 200plus complete strangers sweat, shake and otherwise
lose their minds to the Nordic mixes I was laying down.
As night became morning, the collective frenzy onlyswelled. Even when the music stopped, the dancing
and clapping didn’t. The pitch-black room illuminatedonly by the ghostly glow of waving mobile phones.
Yes, music has took me to Japan, literally. But on thatparticular night, it had taken me somewhere much
more important. A realisation of just how effortlessly
music can transcend the borders of race, culture andcountry. How rhythms, beats and sounds have theuncanny ability to reach into the core of every one ofus. And make our hearts beat just a little bit faster.
As our dinner ended, my colleague and I discussed theprofound power of music. Our conversation reminds
me of a question a marketing manager asked me justa week earlier, ‘We know what our brand looks like.
We have a logo and graphic proﬁle. But we have noidea what our brand sounds like?’

5

MUSIC ISESSENTIAL
TO LIFE(AT LEAST ONEWORTH LIVING)

Imagine a world without music and sound. A place
where rhythm, melody and harmony cease to exist.
No dancing. No singing. (No, not even whistlingis allowed.) What would our lives be like if its only
soundtrack were silence?
It seems we humans are hardwired for music from theget-go. Science tells us hearing is the very ﬁrst of the ﬁve
senses we develop in the womb. By just the eighteenth
week of pregnancy, a fetus can already perceive thesound of its mother’s heartbeat. The steady pumping
rhythm gives us our ﬁrst real sense of security andbelonging.
Music transports us to emotional states that bring us all
together. We’ve all felt it in some way or another. Whether
it’s the contagious call and response of stomping feetat sporting events. Or the infectious chorus which getsthousands of very different people, singing in unison. Musicis inextricably tied to all the milestones in our life; fromwedding marches, to high school processions, to wherever
our life path leads. Perhaps ﬁlm and cinema offer the most
tangible example of the transformational power of music.
Would a love scene move us nearly as much without thewell-timed swell of violins? Would a high-speed car chasequicken our pulse so rapidly without thunderous drums?
Simply put, music is emotion put into communication.

7

IT’S WHAT YOU
DON’T SEE

Look around. We’re a society completely
overwhelmed by brands and their visual trademarks.
Coca-Cola and Pepsi. Apple and Microsoft. Toyota
and BMW. Google and Amazon. Today, logos andtrademarks not only deﬁne a particular product orservice, to a certain degree, they deﬁne the people
who interact with them. Mac and PC are more thandifferent operating systems. They represent totallydifferent mindsets about life. That’s because brands
are ‘social markers’, telling the world (and to a certainextent, ourselves) who we are. They are part of ouridentity - whether we like it or not.

9PEOPLE ARE
TIRED OFADVERTISING(PERHAPS YOU’REONE OF THEM?)

Each year, more than 20,000 new brands arelaunched. Yet only a handful survive more than a few
years. It’s not for lack of trying though. In the 1970s, theaverage person was exposed to roughly 500 advertising
messages a day. Today the number is around 2,000.
But more advertising doesn’t necessarily mean moreawareness. As anyone with a teenager will tell you,attention spans are getting shorter.
Fifty years ago, people recalled roughly a third ofthe ads they saw. Today the ﬁgure has fallen to lessthan one-tenth. Statistics show that I will have seen
over two million commercials by the time I’m 65 years
old. (Or about eight hours of advertisements per day,seven days a week, six years in a row.) Though we’reexposed to more and more advertising, we seem toremember less and less.

11PEOPLE ARE
IN CHARGE OFTHE REMOTECONTROLAt one time, avoiding advertising required a trip
to the kitchen or the refrigerator. But now thanks tointernet streaming, downloadable formats and harddisc recorders like TiVo, viewers have choice to opt outof advertising altogether. With a push of the button,
they can skip past ‘commercial interruptions’, directly
to the content they want.
All these new technological factors mean the oldrules no longer apply. A brand can’t simply throw
more advertising at consumers anymore, and expect
signiﬁcant results. To get the attention of today’s newly
empowered consumer, you must engage, encourage
and - most of all - respect them.

13WELCOME TO
A BRAVE NEW
BRANDINGWORLD(RELAX, IT’S A
GOOD THING)

Times were much simpler just a few decades ago.
Individuals deﬁned their identities by the neighborhoods
they lived in, the company they worked for, the churchor synagogue they attended, and so on. Thoughthese are still viable factors, modern individuals more
often deﬁne themselves in the individual choices they
make everyday - from hobbies, experiences, interests,community involvement and consumption.
Whether we know it or not, we’re attracted to brands
that feel ‘right’ - that on some level align with our own
values and world views. Our brand choices tell theworld - and perhaps ourselves - what we’re about andwhat we stand for. Are you a Mac or a PC person? Are
you a BMW or VW driver? Are you more Rolex thanTimex? There’s no right or wrong answer, just the one
you identify with the most.
Everyone knows branding becomes more critical themore goods and services ﬂood the market. Especiallywhen the differences between them are less discernible.
Don’t believe me? Buy a cup of coffee. Millions ofotherwise rational people shell out twice as muchmoney for essentially the same coffee they could getfor much less somewhere else. Reason? They’re not justbuying a cup of java - they’re buying a brand. (OK,maybe a cute barista is a factor, too.)15

MUSIC IS THE
SOUNDTRACK OF
OUR LIVES

We’re spoilt when it comes to the quantity of music
available today. (Quality? Well, I’ll leave that to thecritics.) The latest iPod can hold up to 40,000 songs,
much more than a denizen of the 1800s could listen to
their entire lives. Some people don’t even step out ofthe door without their iPod and headphones. (Though
they’ll still probably forget their raincoat.)
A recent study by Millward Brown suggests the average
person listens to six different music devices. What’smore, 80% of young people (18-24 years old) actively
listen to music every day. Why is music so essential?
The study suggests we use music to put ourselves in a
desired mood or mindset - whether it’s to get pumpedup for the gym, chill out during the commute home, orjust while away a rainy afternoon. Music alters moods
like nothing else. No prescription required.

17

THERE’S A
SOCIAL MUSICREVOLUTION
GOING ON!

Ultimately, music encourages engagement. It
doesn’t sit still. Beats, words and sounds arouse energy,emotions and sometimes controversy. Consider for a
moment the meteoric rise of popular social networks
like Facebook, MySpace, Last.FM and Twitter. Morethan half of the visitors go there for music, and roughly
40% embed music into their personal proﬁle. Music
provides the spark for people to socialise, energiseand organise. It’s an engine for social interaction.

19

FROM 4Ps
TO 4EsAnyone who’s ever stepped foot in a business classknows the ‘4 Ps of Marketing’. This model suggests thatsuccessful marketing campaigns must have the right mixof product, price, placement and promotion to reach
their target market. No doubt the ‘Four Ps’ have served
traditional marketing well. However, considering thebehavior of today’s tech savvy, advertising-weary
consumer, perhaps a few revisions are in order?
Traditional models, though still viable, often
underestimate the complexity of the modern consumer.
For brands to succeed today they must engage
individuals in a deeper, multidimensional way. In
other words, the Ps must now become Es. The factorsof Emotion, Experience, Engagement and Exclusivity
inherent within music branding are why it’s so powerful.
Music branding is communication through emotions.
Music engages people in conversation, and creates
memorable experiences. This helps companies build
an exclusive position in the mind of their audience,
turning customers into fans of the brand.

21TOKYO TO
TODAY
THE HEARTBEATSSTORY

It’s been six years since that life-changing nightin Tokyo. It was the impetus for founding my music
branding ﬁrm, Heartbeats International. Together withan international team of branding, communicationand music experts, we help brands connect to theircustomers through the power of music.
In Sounds like Branding, I’ll cover the history of music
branding, but more importantly, I’ll take a glimpse
into what the future holds. I’ll share with you the many
conversations I’ve had with individuals and companies,
and the insights we’ve gleaned along the way. You’llﬁnd case studies outlining the challenges and successesof establishing a music branding strategy, along with
helpful guidelines and models to ensure it hits all the‘right notes’ with customers.
Yes, this book is about music branding. But it’s also thestory of my life. Join me as we go to Beijing’s biggest
clubs, through the gritty back streets of Berlin, andreturn to Tokyo where I ﬁnally learnt the importance ofabsolute silence.

23

This is an extract from the full book ‘Sounds like Branding‘, tobe released in Autumn 2010 by Jakob Lusensky and Heartbeats
International.
We invite publishers in other language areas to translate andpublish Sounds like Branding in their home markets. We offer
a complete set of photos and illustrations, layout and ﬁles on
signature of agreement.
Contact: info@heartbeats.fm
or call +46 (0)8 501 189 90
www.soundslikebranding.com
www.heartbeats.fm