LOUD PARADE : TURNING THE VOLUME UP ON SONIC BRANDING

We recently caught up with Loud Parade Co-Founders Rahmon Agbaje and Maatin Adewunmi to discuss their latest travels and meeting with adland royalty and behavioral scientist Rory Sutherland, as the pair sat down to discuss sonic branding and its place within the advertising industry.

Judging by your LinkedIn posts you're a very well traveled man, could you tell us more about your recent visit to Saudi Arabia?

We’ve been very lucky this year to have the opportunity to travel far and wide. The Saudi Arabia trip was super exciting and came at a fantastic time for the government. There is huge investment around Sports, Music and Entertainment and I was invited to speak at Misk Global Forum which is a youth conference held by the Misk Foundation by the Saudi Crown Prince around the opportunities for the youth in Science, Entertainment, Music and Sports. I met and shared the stage with a number of influential leaders such as footballer Karim Benzema and Amir Khan. The talk went well and I had a warm reception from the Saudi Youth.

Could you tell us more about your IAA TALK: ‘The Age of Experience’ with Joe Woodward and Cat Agostino?

Last month, I had the privilege of moderating the IAA Spotlight event. A unique event bringing brands and agency leaders together to discuss three topical issues. The first panel focused on Gen Z working culture and expectations of the working worlds and it was great to hear expert advice from Cat agostinho an dJOe Woodward who had unique insights given their businesses in the Gen Z insights space. It was a thought provoking event with many practical insights hosted in the prestigious Royal Society of Arts.

You mentioned you have a degree in Politics, Philosophy and Economics (great flex) but could you tell us how these skills have translated into the competitive world of advertising?

Studying PPE gave me a unique perspective on how the world works. The intersection between these three topics really helped me understand what drives people and society and also pushed me to be more observant about different interest groups. Whilst the degree wasn’t directly in advertising, I picked up many soft skills about people, organisation, and managing resources.

I bet the degree in Politics came in handy during your visit to the House of Commons, could you tell us a bit more about that experience?

It was an honour to be invited to the House of commons for the first time and as a former Politics undergrad student it was a proud moment for sure. We were invited by the International Advertising Association to take part in a debate about the importance of advertising to the UK economy. It was very insightful to see how much of an impact the different parts of the advertising industry has and how advertising affects our decisions on a daily basis and what shape that takes on a national level.

You recently sat down with adland legend and behavioral scientist Rory Sutherland to discuss sonic branding for a MAD INSIGHT article, could you tell us a bit more about how this came about?

Rory is a legend of advertising we had been following for a little while. His insights into behavioural science and book on Alchemy was one of the first books I read when starting Loud Parade.

We had a brief conversation about the impact of music on human behaviour at WPP Stream and a little while later were connected through the MadFest network where we conducted an interview about the power of music and sonic branding in advertising.

We had a fascinating conversation about his thoughts on music and audio in advertising, his experiences with legendary Hip Hop record producer Rick Rubin, and his predictions about sonic branding.

What was your biggest takeaway from your talk with Rory?

There were a number of takeaways but what stuck with me most is how underutilised sonic branding is at the moment by brands despite it being one of the most effective ways for brands to engage with new audiences

Do you think the advertising industry fully understands sonic branding and its importance to brands?

I think we are getting there with the likes of Just Eat tapping into the power of sound. There is still a long way to go but we believe we are onto the start of the next big trend in advertising as more brands are investing in their sonic assets, especially in a time where there is so much noise and brands need to do more to stand out.

The article you did with Rory references the famous ‘I’m Loving It’ Jingle for McDonald’s, produced by Hip-Hop artist Pharell Williams, which now feels so iconic it’s hard to think of McDonald’s without wanting to hum it. Could you think of any other commercials where you think of the sound before the imagery?

Yes, the McDonald’s jingle is iconic and has stood the test of time. I think a modern example is the Just Eat track which has the same melody shared by a number of different modern music artists, this has become synonymous with their brand and is really catchy!