Making a difference costs money. Unfortunately, this is the world we live in. We can’t move mountains without the charitable giver. Non-profit organizations depend heavily on donations. They need to find long-term investors so that they can focus on what they do best; making a difference.
A charity is like a garden. It needs to be cultivated consistently and over time. Music helps build up the emotional commitment – and a well-managed sonic branding ensures the brand’s consistency over time.
An emotional connection to inspire change
Using music to help raise money is nothing new. Organizations have been relying on the power of sound for years.
In 1985, 46 of the biggest recording artists of the time recorded “We Are the World”. Written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie, the single and movie raised over $63 million in humanitarian aid for African famine relief.
“We Are the World” reached people at an emotional level helping them to feel connected to the cause in a very profound way. This is the power of music. It helps to translate brand intent and build stronger brand connections. It inspires people to care, act, and be compassionate to those less fortunate.
However, for most charitable organizations, music is not used as a branding tool. Their music selections don’t correlate to the brand as a whole. Instead, it is limited to individual campaigns and siloed in one-off marketing content. As a result, inspiring music and effective sound design that could have been a part of a brand’s building blocks float off and are soon replaced – leaving no lasting earprint.
Compassion International chose to go a different direction.
Compassion International foresaw a sonic brand that would encourage empathy and action
Compassion International reached out to Sixième Son to create a unique sonic identity. It would be sensitive to serious topics and create optimism leading to donations. The organization serves children and youth in poverty in 28 developing countries. Although the stories can be heartbreaking, the intention is not to exploit those struggles. The charity’s mission is to help children thrive and to empower youth across the globe to be more than what poverty tells them they can be. The sonic identity would focus on compassion, empowerment, and joy. It would take people through the journey of seeing, feeling, and then acting.
The sonic DNA needed to be simple and sensitive but also courageous and joyful. It needed to be flexible enough to translate each story, subject, and community while supporting one brand image. The musical intention was to feel locally accessible without sounding like it belonged to any particular part of the world. It was designed to “inspire our partners to sing and play it themselves.”
At the core of the sonic Identity is the sonic logo, which became the embodiment of this goal with innocent children’s voices singing a simple wordless tune in unison. It’s a sound you might hear anywhere demonstrating that children are together. Sixième Son then provided multiple variations of the core sonic identity to adapt to the varying moods the local markets would possibly need; upbeat, quiet, elegant, energetic, and community-oriented. As Dan Cummings, Global Creative Lead of Compassion International commented, the variations, “bring the logo into context.”
The final result was a flexible system of sonic branding tools. These tools were to support a wide range of global content needs and further complement the brand’s positioning and visual identity. This could be anything from TVCs to a podcast series, to donor events and internal meetings.
“Your passion, curiosity, and ability to interpret our new brand direction into music has been a massive blessing. I am incredibly thankful! – Dan Cummings, Global Creative Lead of Compassion International.”
As of 2024, Compassion International is the first in the charitable giving sector to create a comprehensive sonic identity system. Their new sonic brand will be launching in late 2024 in a series of moving optimistic brand films.
How sonic branding moves hearts
Music inspires us to do things we don’t always believe we can do. It strengthens us to have courage when there isn’t any. It motivates us to give when we don’t think we can. It brings us together to believe and support a cause as a worldwide community.
This is the power of music and sound. Everyone can relate to it and every brand should consider using it to grow its reach and impact. What your brand sounds like can be the bridge between a one-time sale and a lifelong customer. People want to support the causes that they believe in. They want to be moved to action.
Sometimes people just need that extra emotional boost.
