USAA

After a competitive analysis of the banking and insurance sectors, it became clear that USAA had the opportunity to increase brand awareness among its key targets. USAA identified sonic branding as a key tool.

For decades, the US insurance category boasted some of the oldest branded and recognizable musical cues in the market.

Inspired, USAA launched a sonic brand that would help create awareness that strengthened emotional bonds with existing customers.

The sonic identity strove to capture the USAA idea “We serve the military but we’re not the military” and convey the values of optimism, camaraderie, rigor and authenticity. In order to break through, the brand needed to be strong, distinctive and recognizable.

Optimism, camaraderie, rigor, and authenticity.

People’s fondest memory of military service was the camaraderie they shared, often expressed through call-and-response chants or “cadences.” Sixième Son saw the value in those associations and set out to create a new sound based on that emotional territory.

The idea that emerged for the brand’s sonic logo was completely different from anything in the marketplace with a voice call, “U-S” and the answering “A-A.”

Quick, measurable impact.

Less than a year after the launch of the new USAA sonic identity, there were new attractions and positive market results. The sonic logo was reported by the Veritonic Audio Logo Index to have ranked high on authenticity, inspiration and trustworthiness. It scored higher than the much older Nationwide sound and placed 12% higher than the iconic McDonald’s theme. It also ranked in 5th for “correctly recognized” audio logos, higher than many logos that had been in the market for decades.

The lively logo has also been awarded the AMA’s BrandSmart Gold in Innovation as well as a Transform Award in recognition of the “best practices in brand design and strategy.”