Why brands need sound to stand out in today’s attention economy
Learn what the power of sound brings to the table, how it affects customers, and how your brand can use it.
In today’s fast-moving media landscape, brands barely have seconds to capture customers’ attention. Every visual, every headline, every movement on screen competes for focus. So much emphasis is placed on the visual hook to stop people scrolling, while one of the most powerful engagement tools is overlooked: sound.
Background music. Sound logos. Theme tunes, leitmotifs, in-store music. Audio is so much more than an accessory, a nice-to-have. Used well, it’s a strategic asset that can shape perception, build trust, and influence behavior.
Science and emotion make real storytelling
From paintings in caves to podcasts, human beings love narratives — we’re wired for it. Stories engage our brains in a way that facts alone just can’t, triggering the release of oxytocin, the hormone associated with trust and connection.
According to content marketing company OneSpot, 92% of consumers want brands to make ads that feel like stories. That may sound a little fuzzy, but it translates into real-world value.
As far back as 2009, Joshua Glenn and Rob Walker conducted the Significant Objects experiment. The premise was simple: writers created narratives for $129 worth of ordinary items, which were then sold on eBay.
The result? A 2,700% increase in value, netting over $3,500 for what was essentially thrift-store junk. Storytelling did that.
Stories may capture attention, but sound amplifies the effect. Music, voice, and audio cues can shape the emotional context of a story, helping it resonate longer and more profoundly with audiences. Frida Jones, chief enterprise officer at Epidemic Sound, explains:
“When you pair narrative with the right music, you’re not just telling a story — you’re making it feel alive, memorable, and human.”
Why sound matters for brands
When featured in an ad, branded audio assets like music and sonic cues are 3.44 times more likely to be high-performing. That number easily outweighs the power of visual assets, which are only 1.15 times more likely to be high-performing. This isn’t just conjecture — it’s from leading market researcher Ipsos.
From the same Ipsos research, you’ll find that sonic branding cues — think of the Netflix “Tudum,” or McDonald’s’ “Ba da ba ba ba” — are the single most effective brand assets, proven to be 8.53 times more high-performing. That’s more than celebrities, more than characters, more than logos or slogans.
So much of marketing revolves around colors, fonts, and other visual stimuli, and sonic branding cues trounce them. Even in isolation, music is still 1.2 times more likely to be high-performing — that’s in line with ubiquitous brand assets like logos and slogans. Based on this research, one could argue sound has a comparable, if not greater, effect on consumers. Still, both sound and music remain underutilized in most branding contexts.
As technology and tastes have developed, so has brand recognition and retention. Four in five Gen Z consumers can identify memes based solely on what they sound like, according to sonic branding company Amp. Moreover, Spotify research shows that 77% of Gen Z customers in the US say “brands that create playlists for specific moods and moments feel more in tune with [their lives.]”
Sound can take a new brand to uncharted heights, or help re-establish a steady market favorite. For example, Frito-Lay-owned Tostitos have been around for over four decades — it’s not like they’re unknown. But when the brand rolled out a new sonic logo, it enjoyed a 20% increase in brand recall and a 13% increase in brand appeal.
And most tellingly, Stanford’s Jennifer Aaker claims that stories are up to 22 times more memorable than facts alone. Perhaps ironic, given the reliance on facts, but these insights show that sonic branding does so much more than just boost recognition. It builds loyalty and affinity.
Is sound essential? According to research, yes
Music affects the brain in measurable ways. Research published by the University of California Press found that combinations of tempo and mode — slow tempo with minor mode or fast tempo with major mode — directly influence enjoyment. Other studies suggest that consistency between music and message improves ad recall and recognition.
More research shows that sonic stimuli can shift consumer attitudes, influencing how brands are perceived without the audience even being aware. It’s subconscious brand perception.
And if we’re talking brand perception, nowhere is that more relevant than the fast-moving, short-form platforms on which new customers spend their time. TikTok made its name as a sound-centric app, and that reputation’s only grown.
73% of TikTok users will “stop and look” at ads with sound, while nearly nine in ten (88%) say sound is essential when viewing videos, according to Kantar.
Essential.
Sound is essential.
Music impacts physical spaces, too
Sound isn’t limited to online video. Music thrives from human-to-human contact, that need to feel something, to connect. As such, research shows that sound drives in-store behavior.
Mood Media reports that 90% of American consumers are more likely to revisit stores offering multi-sensory experiences covering scent, sound, and sight. Some journals drill down one level further, positing that slow music literally slows customers down, increasing their dwell time within the store.
While sound is important for physical stores, they do have a clear advantage over digital: customers are already in the aisles, browsing, gearing up for purchase. Online, it takes just one false move for a potential sale to swipe away.
Deloitte research shows that 40% of respondents interact with people online more than they do in real life. This underscores the need for brands to create emotional, connective digital experiences. Based on the opinions and studies in this article, sonic branding can deliver the cut-through that visual-only strategies can’t achieve.
It’s something Epidemic Sound’s clients can attest to. Jakob Osborne Edman, head of brand for Wasa Crispbread, believes in the power of sound.
“Really dare to spend the time and the money investing in your sonic branding. It’s such an untapped opportunity, and there [are] so few brands that really are pushing at it. [...] I think if you really put a strategy behind it, you spend the time, you look into it, and you want to build that brand and have that positioning, then music can do really great things. We’ve used it for a while now and we are starting to see [...] VTR rates that are going up as well.”
Wasa’s sonic rebrand was the iconic Swedish company’s biggest shift in decades, born from a need to raise global awareness. Sound gave Edman and his team the tools they needed to tell Wasa’s story in a fresh way for a new audience.
Summing up: 5 reasons why your brand should start with sound
Here’s why the soundtrack should be baked into your brand’s strategy early on, sliced into five key points.
- Sound drives engagement, memorability, and loyalty. Music and sonic cues can significantly amplify storytelling and emotional impact.
- Sonic assets outperform visual-only assets. Ads with strong audio assets are 3.44 times more likely to be high-performing. Specifically, sonic brand cues are 8.53 times more likely to perform well.
- Consumers expect sound. Especially Gen Z, who genuinely value a well-crafted brand sound.
- Sound scales across most touchpoints. From short-form social media to podcasts, retail spaces, and digital ads, consistent audio builds familiarity and trust. It’s truly omnichannel.
- Ignoring sound leaves opportunity on the table. In the attention economy, sound is often the difference between content that hits and content that’s skipped.
Don’t leave the future of your business to chance — bake sound into your brand’s strategy from day one. If you need help with sonic branding, music licensing, or soundtracking, an Epidemic Sound license is the perfect solution.
The Enterprise plan offers everything a brand needs to soundtrack their work, plus licensing safety for influencers or third parties with whom you collaborate.
Our dedicated digital rights management team works tirelessly to make sure our licensed users don’t encounter issues when publishing content online. We’ll walk you through the licensing process, providing you and your team with the tools you need to use music safely.
Regardless of platform and media switch-ups in the future, your content is safe. What you publish during an active subscription is licensed forever, even if you choose to leave Epidemic Sound.
Everyone from Levi’s to Warner Bros. Discovery, BuzzFeed to the Miami Dolphins, trusts Epidemic Sound to be their soundtracking platform.
Don’t risk your business with a risky license. Enjoy full coverage and soundtrack your brand, your way.
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