April 13, 2023
"Audiomotion", a research project by Department of Noise in collaboration with the School of Applied Psychology FHNW, pursues an ambitious goal: empirically collected data should help to anchor a brand message even more inspiringly and thus more effectively with the target group.
The core of the project is a specially developed method for collecting and evaluating the extensive empirical data from the ongoing survey. "We want to find out as precisely as possible how specific sound experiences affect listeners and what emotions they are perceiving," says Dorian Mittner, research associate in the project. "With this data, we can now classify and compare the impact of different music excerpts from all genres in a fairly accurate manner. The innovative factor of this is the practice-based approach, which enables efficient evaluation and seamless integration into design processes."
The "MeloMetric" survey tool that was developed in the process has already been successfully used in the creation of sound identities (Audio Brandings for Raiffeisen, ZKB) and can also be applied on campaign music: Creative proposals are tested with both customers and employees and then compared with the desired impact on the various target groups. The demographically classified information helps to sharpen the result and serves brand managers as a rational tool for internal stakeholder/C-level onboarding.
Florian Goetze (Director Strategy & Creation at DoN), says: "When brands communicate, there are often multi-layered committees with heterogeneous needs interacting with the creative teams. In this phase, empirical data can provide orientation and enable consensus. The more the industry has access to high-quality data and the more efficiently it can be evaluated, the greater its relevance will be - also when it comes to creative work. Whereby especially there, of course, intuitive assessment will remain an important aspect."
Currently, more than 1200 people living in Switzerland have already rated over 370 music excerpts. Of course, the project is still ongoing: You can take part in the survey at SoundsLike.ch and embark on a playful journey into the subconscious.
We thus achieved the perfect balance between strategy-driven, creative ideas and data-based target group insights.
Simon Fuchs, St. Galler Kantonalbank
Head of Marketing
Department of Noise
Connecting people with Sound.