The Sound of Music: The Effect of Timbral Sound Quality in Audio Logos on Brand Personality Perception

This research aims to advance the understanding of audio branding by investigating the effect of an understudied auditory attribute, timbre, in the context of brand audio logos. Specifically, the authors propose, and provide evidence in ten studies, that timbral sound quality in audio logos (i.e., roughness/smoothness) informs abstract judgments of brand personality (i.e., ruggedness/sophistication). Study 1 shows that the industry practice of altering instrumentation, and thus timbre, in audio logos can change personality perceptions of even well-known brands. This effect persists when the sound source is kept constant with various instruments (Studies 2a–2d), with a combination of instruments (Study 3), and in the absence of an identifiable sound source (Study 4). The authors test specific acoustic underpinnings of timbral sound quality perceptions (Study 4) and show that the effect on brand personality judgments is counteracted by incongruent sensory information from another modality (Study 5). The results of Study 6 suggest that the influence of timbral sound quality on brand personality perceptions is nonconscious, as consumers are unaware of the extent to which the stimulus affects their judgments. Study 7 shows downstream consequences for purchase intentions. Practical implications, theoretical contributions, and directions for future research are discussed.