Last month, our official Head of Scouse, Dominic McVeigh presented an insightful breakfast session on retail marketing ably supported by a plentiful supply of croissants, pastries and coffee. Dom’s presentation was rounded off superbly with a competitive and interactive exercise based on repositioning an established but poorly performing brand (whose name we won’t mention here).

Next up is Steve Buckley tomorrow morning and we like the look of the promotional flyer…

I choose the word ‘noise’ carefully because so often we find ourselves readily identifying with the visual identity of a brand and of course we know just how much attention and care is paid to the graphic elements of companies of all shapes and sizes. One would only need to pick up the guidelines of most organisations to see the overemphasis of the brand in a static visual application. I’ve written about this before but, as designers, do we still really need to guideline vans, mugs, toilet roll etc as a means of justifying fee income on a guidelines project. No doubt that the logo is the king of the branding world.

In recent years there has been an increasing maturity towards treating the verbal identity with more and more respect. Inspired by the likes of Innocent, an understanding of the power of tone of voice has made a significant impression on rebranding programmes of organisations of all shapes and sizes.

So to more effectively communicate what the brand stands for, we’re starting to exploit not just how we look, but also how we sound, which brings us to a whole new territory. That of sonic branding. There is nothing new here, look at how Intel and Apple have created unique sounds that are so readily identifiable with these iconic brands (click the logo).

But so many brands are blissfully ignorant of the possibilities, moreso given the fact we now typically interact with brands in places where sound is an obvious output. A newspaper ad couldn’t make a noise but an I-pad app certainly can. Sound can pervade the senses of an audience not even looking at your brand. So why does it figure in so few brand manager’s briefs?

Aural stimulation is immensely powerful and emotionally engaging but is typically considered more intrusive than other forms of sensory interaction. How often do we hit the mute button on a website that just starts to blast some noise at you without a second thought? So yes, the annoyance threshold is potentially reached sometime before a tired logo can have the same effect. But for me, this is down to a lack of sophistication in approach and a poor understanding of the audience. And usually because it’s not brand-led.

Obviously when we are talking about a sonic brand, we mean much more than a simple ad jingle or even on-hold telephone message marketing. These may very well be actual applications but the sonic brand should help articulate and define these outputs. The alternative is silence…is this what we want in 2010? It’s certainly something we are considering here at Studio North as we are currently paying attention to our own brand ahead of 2011 planning.

I just think that there is much for brand managers and our ilk to learn here. How can we create an appropriate yet subtle sonic brand that complements the visual main course. Much like developing colour palettes and image libraries can we develop sounds that reflect the brand’s values.

Our prediction is that, though to date, only very recognisable and premium type brands have paid much attention to their sonic brand, the mass market will follow very soon, leaving no stone unturned in an attempt to brand build and find that point of difference.

During my time here I was able to gain a valuable insight into how the industry works, whilst also getting some very important practice on how to make a fantastic cuppa!

It sounded like something fun for us to get stuck into creatively and after some initial consideration we decided to work with a small independent travel brand called Luxury Backpackers. The firm was started in 2001 when owners Jill and Carlo Nash realised they were no longer ’students travelling on a shoestring’ but actually professionals with a bit of spare cash who wished to take an extended trip around the world. Like others, they wanted to explore the world, immerse themselves in other cultures, meet travellers and friendly locals but without the flea ridden hostels, endless queues and overcrowded tacky tourist spots.

Anyway, our creative entry focussed on the theme of ‘If only a travellers t-shirt could talk’. The concept is based on the hand-crafted work of a traveller retelling the account of their adventures. All we are showing here is a bit of a behind the scenes look at the creative process…obviously if we win, then we can take the concept on a stage, adding a bit of polish and some audio but here is our entry file…

In the past few years we have focussed our charitable work on supporting local children. Initially we put our support through Manchester Kids (now Key 103’s Cash for Kids), some of you may have attended or remember Bangon08 which was a huge success raising plenty of money. However, last year it felt like we needed to find an end-user of charitable donations as opposed to a mere facilitator, removing a layer of admin I suppose and getting us closer to the action where we can readily identify areas of support beyond purely financial input. So after some scouting around this took us to the lovely people at AuKids magazine.

AuKids is a joint venture between parent and journalist Debby Elley, whose twin sons have autism and speech and language therapist Tori Houghton. When I first met them at home at the beginning of the year I immediately realised we had found the right people to support, so important is their work and so obvious their passion for making it a charitable success.

On a personal note, it is a cause very close to heart and home. The last year has been difficult dealing with the initially heartbreaking news that my younger boy Joe who, though not yet formally diagnosed is being treated for an ASD (Autistic Spectrum Disorder). Words can’t describe the emotions, the fear, the grief and the pain you initially go through…but there is massive help out there to help you come to terms with what you regard as a loss of the baby you brought into the world. What Tori and Debby do very well through the magazine is encourage other parents to focus on the positives…enjoy what your child can do, as opposed to what they can’t. It’s an essential coping strategy and reduces the time you spend thinking negatively or worrying about the future.

Aside from the SN Cup earlier this year we have been busy providing creative services and pulling in favours off printers to provide marketing materials to AuKids, enabling them to attract both subscriptions and donations, the lifeblood of their efforts.

Coincidentally, Cash for Kids now also support AuKids, as do Viking Direct and Standard Life. That said, despite the excellent efforts of these businesses and plenty of individuals, Debby and Tori are still looking for further support to take the magazine to a wider audience. If you are interested in subscribing to the magazine, and I can highly recommend it, or you can offer any help at all please contact AuKids via email aukidsmag@googlemail.com

The two day event was designed to bring together representatives from industry and academia as well as showcase the best undergraduate and post graduate talent in the North West. Students from the University of Salford, University of Chester, Manchester Metropolitan University, UCLAN, Liverpool John Moores University, North Wales and Huddersfield University attended along with some of the regions most celebrated design agencies.

As well as an exhibition of the best graduate talent from universities in the North there were keynote lectures from the cream of the creative industry, portfolio surgeries, roundtable discussions and Q & A sessions.

We were delighted to help out with the portfolio surgeries. It’s always energising to see creativity in it’s rawest form, without the complications and reality of restrictive brief, limiting budget and punishing deadline!

The event and exhibition was held at The Triangle, Manchester, for more information you can visit www.designersnorthernalliance.org