What Does a Brand Sound Like?
When we think about brands, we tend to think in visuals: logos, colours, typography, photography. But brands live in every sense. They have a look, a feel, a voice. Increasingly, they also have a sound.
From the playlists you hear in-store to the chime on your phone, sound shapes how we experience brands, often more deeply than we realise. It can trigger memory, set mood, and build recognition in a single note.
We already know the shorthand: McDonald’s “I’m lovin’ it.” Netflix’s “tudum.” Intel’s four-note mnemonic. These audio logos are as recognisable as the brands’ visual marks. But sonic branding isn’t limited to a jingle.
It’s also in the music playing in a café. The atmosphere of a shop floor. The presence (or absence) of a playlist on Spotify. Every brand creates a soundscape, whether by design or by accident.
The question is: does it feel intentional?
Beyond Playlists
For the best brands, sound is designed with as much care as visuals. Aesop’s in-store playlists are calm and restrained, matching the contemplative tone of their spaces. Nike pushes energy and rhythm. Even luxury hotels now commission original scores to reinforce their sense of place.
But this can go further.
Imagine a brand with its own album — bespoke music created to soundtrack its spaces, owned outright to avoid licensing restrictions. Tracks that aren’t filler, but an extension of the brand story. Played in-store, released on Spotify, shared on socials, even pressed on vinyl for collaborators or loyal customers.
Sonic branding doesn’t have to be background noise. It can be cultural output. Just as a brand’s visual world spans everything from packaging to campaigns, its sonic world can expand into platforms and channels that audiences already engage with.
The Opportunity
Curated or commissioned, music can become as much a part of brand identity as typography or colour.
Curated → thought-out playlists across spaces, digital channels, Spotify presences.
Commissioned → original tracks, albums, or sonic logos that a brand owns, free from licensing, created with purpose.
Integrated → sound shaping everything from a store opening to a TikTok ad, carrying the same DNA across touch-points.
At GCS, this is where design and music converge. With a strong background in the music industry, and a line-up of collaborators and composers, we help brands translate their values into sound. Not as an afterthought, but as a core part of their identity.
Takeaway
If identity is how a brand looks, feels, and speaks, then it should also ask: how do we sound?
Because in a noisy world, the brands who own their sound won’t just be heard.
They’ll be remembered.
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