Does sonic branding work and how

1
Does sonic branding work and how?

• Adrian North
• Professor of Psychology
• Heriot Watt University
• Edinburgh, United Kingdom
• a.north_at_hw.ac.uk

2
Theoretical background

• Knowledge is stored in inter-connected units
• Related pieces of information are connected
• Activation of one piece of knowledge also
  activates related knowledge

3

• Music activates other types of knowledge
• e.g., Sgt Pepper and the 1960s
• This primes related thoughts and behaviours
• Perhaps sonic branding works this way?
• Some evidence from music in retail and leisure

4
Store image and purchasing

• Four days in a coffee bar
• Pop, classical, easy listening, no music
• Expected effects on image
• Pop upbeat classical sophisticated, easy
  listening downmarket, no music mixture
• Effects on purchase intentions
• List of 14 items on sale (e.g. slice of pizza)
• How much would you be prepared to pay?
• North, A. C. and Hargreaves, D. J. (1998). The
  effect of music on atmosphere and purchase
  intentions in a cafeteria. Journal of Applied
  Social Psychology, 28, 2254-2273.

5

• Silence
• Easy listening
• Pop
• Classical

• 14.30
• 14.51
• 16.61
• 17.23

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Spending in restaurants

• http//news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/leicestershire/
  3173002.stm (see c/acn/amber.mht)
• Classical, pop, no music over 18 nights
• Measure spending on all items
• Controlling for amount of time spent in
  restaurant
• Classical music led to overall higher spending
  per head
• Particularly on luxury items
• Starters classical 4.92, pop 4.04, no
  music 3.93
• Coffee classical 1.07, pop 0.80, no music
  .054
• Also on total food spend and overall spend
• Total food classical 24.13, pop 21.91, no
  music 21.70
• Overall spend classical 32.52, pop 29.46,
  no music 29.73
• North, A. C., Shilcock, A., and Hargreaves, D. J.
  (2003). The effect of musical style on restaurant
  customers spending. Environment and Behavior,
  35, 712-718.

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Product choice

• Aisle-end wine display
• French and German wines matched for price and
  dryness
• French and German music on alternate days
• French music 51
• German music 21
• Overall 31
• Customer questionnaire
• Did the music influence the type of wine you
  bought?
• Only 6 out of 44 said yes
• Were they aware of fit?
• Only works when customers are uncertain
• Renaults versus Volkswagens
• North, A. C., Hargreaves, D. J., and McKendrick,
  J. (1997). In-store music affects product choice.
  Nature, 390, 132.

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Product choice in Malaysia

• Does the effect work outside European music?
• Malaysian Chinese shown slides of 20 pairs of
  products
• e.g. two types of digital camera, two types of
  watch
• Please choose one from each pair
• Five slides contain a Malay vs an Indian product
• Malay or Indian music plays in background
• Musical fit effects on the Malay vs Indian choices

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Product choice when uncertain

• Malaysia has three ethnic groups
• Malays, Chinese, and Indians
• Experiment 1 Malay vs Western food
• All participants eat Malay rather than Western
  food
• Played Malay vs Western music and then selected
  Malay or Western food
• All selected Malay food
• Experiment 2 Malay vs Indian food
• Malay versus Indian music
• Malays pick Malay food, Indians pick Indian food,
  whatever music is played but
• 75 of Chinese pick Malay food when Malay music
  playing and Indian food when Indian music playing
• Musical fit works only when customers are
  uncertain about which option to take

10
The taste of wine

• Four types of music selected to prime
  corresponding thoughts
• Powerful and heavy (Carmina Burana by Orff),
  subtle and refined (Waltz of the Flowers by
  Tchaikovsky), zingy and refreshing (Just Cant
  Get Enough by Nouvelle Vague), mellow and soft
  (Slow Breakdown by Michael Brook)
• 250 people hear one type of music (or no music)
  while drinking wine and rate the wine
• Music shifted the taste of the wine towards the
  mood expressed by the music by an average of
  37.25
• White wine 32.25
• Red wine 42.25
• E.g., red wine
• 60 more powerful and heavy when people hear
  powerful and heavy music rather than no music
• 41 more subtle and refined when people hear
  subtle and refined music rather than no music
• Why the greater effect for red wine?
• Greater uncertainty leads to greater priming
  effects
• Greater uncertainty when judging red wine
• Red wine bought less than white wine ?
  uncertainty
• Red wine has more complex flavours ? uncertainty
• Musical fit affects perceptions in other senses

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Recall of radio adverts

• Does musical fit aid product recall?
• Should raise salience
• Adverts prepared for five brands
• Same copy but fit, no fit, or no music
• Recall type of product (e.g. bank), brand (e.g.
  JP Morgan), or advert claims (e.g. on-line
  banking)
• Recall of product

12
Priming in a bank and a bar

• How to control the cognitive concepts primed by
  music
• City centre bar
• Classical, easy listening, and no music
• Three dimensions (aggressive, upbeat,
  sophisticated)
• Bank
• Classical and pop music lead to same three
  dimensions
• Two sports retailers
• Jazz and pop lead to same dimensions
• Image moved with the music
• Can differentiate otherwise similar shops
• North, A. C., Hargreaves, D. J., and McKendrick,
  J. (2000). The effects of music on atmosphere and
  purchase intentions in a bank and a bar. Journal
  of Applied Social Psychology, 30, 1504-1522.
• Funding from PRS / PPL

13
Predicting emotional responses to music

• How to select music that will prime certain
  emotions?

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Conclusion

• Perhaps sonic branding works by knowledge
  activation?
• The associations with and emotional responses to
  the music prime our responses to the company
• Implications
• More use of priming when high cognitive load or
  lack of attention
• Stronger effects when not attending to adverts,
  when not attending to the environment, when
  irritated (e.g., when queuing), when a store is
  busy, when aroused (e.g., in a gym), when rushing