Selling Sound: Why Sonic Branding is New Zealand's Next Great Export
It started with the Air New Zealand safety video. You know the one. Flight attendants doing haka, animated elves boarding zones, a slightly unhinged Peter Jackson cameo. That wasn’t just a safety video. That was sonic branding on steroids. The airline’s jingle lingers in your head longer than the turbulence. But here’s the strange part—we’ve nailed visual identity, yet still treat sound like an afterthought.
Take our media agencies. Ask ten of them what their client’s sonic identity is, and most will shrug. Web copy and photography get mood boards. Sound gets three default options from a stock library and a hope for the best. Meanwhile, global brands are investing in six-second soundtracks that trigger more emotion than a full-page Spread in Canvas. Mastercard has one. Netflix’s *ta-dum* is Pavlovian. Even Woolworths in Aus is dabbling. But here in Aotearoa? Crickets.
I went deep on this. Like, YouTube-comment-section deep. Turns out, sonic branding influences recall rates, emotional connection and even perception of product value. There are composers whose sole job is to write two-second audio logos. That’s a thing. One firm tested thousands of tonal combinations to find the exact note that says “convenience and reassurance.”
So why aren’t we playing in this space more? Our indie film scene is sound-savvy. Our music industry punches way above its weight. If there’s a nation primed to create distinctive, emotionally powerful audio identities, it’s us. Imagine a local bank that feels like Trinity Roots when you tap your card. Or a delivery app that greets your order with a chord that subtly says, "yeah, we’ve got you." It’s not brand noise, it’s brand music. Future-proof your brand with headphones in mind.
Take our media agencies. Ask ten of them what their client’s sonic identity is, and most will shrug. Web copy and photography get mood boards. Sound gets three default options from a stock library and a hope for the best. Meanwhile, global brands are investing in six-second soundtracks that trigger more emotion than a full-page Spread in Canvas. Mastercard has one. Netflix’s *ta-dum* is Pavlovian. Even Woolworths in Aus is dabbling. But here in Aotearoa? Crickets.
I went deep on this. Like, YouTube-comment-section deep. Turns out, sonic branding influences recall rates, emotional connection and even perception of product value. There are composers whose sole job is to write two-second audio logos. That’s a thing. One firm tested thousands of tonal combinations to find the exact note that says “convenience and reassurance.”
So why aren’t we playing in this space more? Our indie film scene is sound-savvy. Our music industry punches way above its weight. If there’s a nation primed to create distinctive, emotionally powerful audio identities, it’s us. Imagine a local bank that feels like Trinity Roots when you tap your card. Or a delivery app that greets your order with a chord that subtly says, "yeah, we’ve got you." It’s not brand noise, it’s brand music. Future-proof your brand with headphones in mind.