Sonic Branding is memorable, whether you like it or not
Like an emotional high school football team celebration to “We Are the Champions” after winning the big game, law firm Nixon Peabody celebrated their naming to Fortune Mag’s “best companies to work for” list by commissioning a song their team could sing, arm in arm, glasses raised…at work.
Their triumphant slow-motion moment came to a sobering halt when the song was leaked by a disgruntled individual and quikly became a hit, for the wrong reasons, on You Tube (see link below, it will likely be taken down soon).
Why didn’t this commissioned song embody the same emotional overtones that Queen so successfuly captured? That very emotion that Peabody was attemting to harness is much easier for an artist, band or songwriter to communicate than a brand, especially law firms who’s core “brand” is the lack of emotion.This scenario highlights the benefit of a strategic approach to sonic branding and obviously, the results when there isn’t one. What might have happened if Nixon played along with this song’s success and poked fun at themselves “letting lose” a bit. Would they then be seen as professional yet approachable and received a huge PR hit? It’s definitely a different tactic that threatening legal action due to the lack of a proper music license.
Regardless, the song was powerful enough for people who have never heard of Nixon Peabody to notice, talk and blog about them despite their best efforts to quiet the chatter. A good reminder that sonic branding tactics are memorable, whether you like it or not.
