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Millennials and Gen Z consumers travel more than other generations.
They also consume 14-15% more audio content from streaming services (Spotify etc.) than older Americans.
On the whole, people are consuming audio-only content at a higher rate.
9% increase from when Hopper was launched, and 17% up from 10 years ago)
Learn More Here
Competitors
Hipmunk has no audio brand to speak of at the moment.
Its musical choices are corporate-leaning and the identity is scattered from video to video.
This video even has a "pop" at 38s, which probably means that they are not particularly focused on audio quality.
No Ident. No Jingle.
Skyscanner is similarly scattered in terms of audio identity, with choices varying from video to video.
No particular thought seems given to emotional impact or purpose.
In fact, in their Norway video, there was a missed opportunity to license Scandinavian music and make the scenery even more magical.
Note that in the embedded video at 31s, a "Millennial" sound is used. This sound is commonplace and leaning toward it exclusively can harm brand differentiation.
No Ident. No Jingle.
Kiwi.com has more of an immediately apparent aesthetic in the music they use - orchestral and gypsy jazz sounds.
However, there is not enough available online content to conclusively say whether it was planned or a coincidence.
No Ident. No Jingle.
Market Assessment:
All of Hopper's immediate competitors have little to no audio identity. No UX sound, no unified musical approach, no ident, no jingle.
They are missing out on:
1. Emotional Engagement.
Consumers will not have strong emotional associations with the brand and its attached values. Purchase behavior and loyalty is driven by emotional motivation.
2. Brand Recall.
Brand pervasiveness is key in the marketing of any product.
Audio assists in the recollection of implicit images in advertising as well.
These companies are missing out on capturing the audio memory of consumers.
3. Identifiability Across Platforms
With people consuming larger amounts of audio-only media today, what are these companies doing to make themselves immediately identifiable in this invisible space?
The answer: Not much.
Audio directly influences decision-making behavior in consumers.
Hopper is sitting on a goldmine of branding opportunity (ebook link)
Hopper
Reference Sound 1
Reference Sound 2
Hopper currently has 2 basic audio identities on its YouTube channel.
1 is a cute, quirky identity with pizzicato strings and whimsical instruments, and 2 is confident, millennial, and modern (see above video).
1 is approachable, friendly, and cute, but fails to communicate the confident and lifestyle-oriented interests of its audience.
2 is powerful, uplifting, and positive, but sounds like every other Millennial brand and runs the risk of being generic.
Marrying the disparate identities is the key to Hopper's brand differentiation and should lay the foundation of Hopper's Audio Brand Identity.
All audio created will be tested on Veritonic's proprietary platform prior to implementation to ensure the highest possibility of success.
Combination Example
Recommended Next Steps:
1. Create Audio Identity
2. Use as foundation of all background music selection.
3. Use to create "intro" & "outro" tags for all video content.
4. Integrate branded SFX in Point of Sale
IKEA & Dreamworks
We collaborated with Dreamworks to create a cohesive audio identity for IKEA's new line of childrens' products (LATTJO) in 25 short films focused on storytelling, including background music, voices, sound effects, and a branded audio tag.
Playstudios
We collaborated with leading social casino game developer Playstudios to provide music for games by NBC Universal and King (leading Casual Game company, 2B revenue in 2017).
Each game created has a unique identity while still conforming to the overarching brand (sometimes original, sometimes licensed).
IPs worked on include The Munsters, King Kong, and the NBC project is ongoing.
Maybank
We created an original soundtrack for Maybank Singapore's annual Lunar New Year short film. With no paid advertising, it organically reached 190k views and received 668 shares.
(Singapore is a small country)
Partner
Audio Analytics
LI & ORTEGA
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