Ms. Kuebler has written an article about „the sound that seduces to shopping“ in the Swiss paper „Tagesanzeiger“.
In her article she writes about the nice background music that everybody knows from shopping malls as well as the sound in shops that have become part of their brand identity and how this is used differently in various approaches.
But the big question is what is useful, what supports your brand and in the end what helps to increase your sales figures.
Read the full article in German here.
Music is an important channel in building a multi-sensual brand and can create strong emotions, but it is often not used efficiently and more a nice-to-have instead of an emotionally brand supporting instrument.
But just using some nice music is not the key to success. As described in our article “What distinguishes a good from a bad TV commercial?” music cannot be used for the sake of it’s own, if it is used in a multi-sensual branding approach. To use music effectively you need to use the right music that supports the emotions customers have with your brand. A good example by Apple can also be obtained in the above-mentioned article as a video.
Furthermore, with music for example in stores you can create certain emotions with your customers. This is already used in wine stores, e. g. if you want to sell more French wine you have to play French music. But you can even do more with music, than just increase sales of certain product groups; you can build and enhance the perception of your brand. Abercrombie & Fitch for example have their very loud techno music that distinguishes them from other brands and reflects and supports the lifestyle of their customers. Additionally Kuebler also mentions the fact that in some stores the music is part of the product as well as the products that can be bought in the shop. That is in fact a good example of the use of music in stores, where customers identify themselves not only with products but also with the atmosphere and sound of the store – so to say a more holistic branding approach.
Hence, music is not only a nice-to-have that disguises the noise produced by people and moving stairs in a store, so that customers feel more comfortable, music can be used to strengthen brands and to support the multi-sensual perception of brands.
So, yes, just playing music will give your customers a better sound atmosphere and disguises annoying and distracting sound, but the solution should not be to simply use music companies that stream music directly into your store or hotel, because this will not necessarily support and help your brand. The better option is to use customized music that fit’s and represents your brand with exactly the same emotions the customers have with your brand, products and services. As a result you can distinguish your brand from competitors more effectively – now you have your own fitting corporate sound.
