Our Sonic Identity

Sonic image and music are important parts of any holistic brand identity. It is more than just a sonic logo, it is an entire ecosystem of sound, touching upon a broad variety of channels and expressions that represents the Bayer brand in an audio world.

Why sonic branding matters

We all use our physical senses to experience brands we encounter in our daily lives. Whilst many people find it easiest to think only about the visual aspects of branding, the power of brand sound – how we hear a brand and experience it aurally – can provide uniquely memorable and effective sensory cues. As we journey toward a more dynamic and human brand, it is essential we build a distinct brand sound.

Like every brand, we make a lot of noise, though all our social media, our events, our communications and more. In a crowded media landscape, sound can really help to build brand awareness and recognition. The new sonic identity will allow us to represent the Bayer brand more broadly across our channels and standout in our stakeholders’ minds.

As a result, we have created a considered and crafted ONE Bayer brand sound, which is uniquely built from Bayer’s Brand Model and brand personality attributes: visionary, optimistic and passionate.

Our Brand Sound Assets 

The core assets here are intended for use worldwide across any relevant brand touch point where sound should or could play a role including digital channels, social media content, videos, advertisements, TVCs, internal events etc.

Note on Usage Rights 

Our sonic brand assets have been uniquely and exclusively developed for Bayer and we enjoy a perpetuity license allowing global usage without any time limit.
 

• Sonic Logo 

The Sonic Logo is a short-form representation of the Bayer sonic brand identity. To be as flexible as possible, we have chosen to create a sonic logo system. 

On the one hand, Bayer has one 3-second sonic logo (or hero sonic logo) that allows for a wide range of usages across all corporate communications:

Additionally, a 1-second short sonic logo variation has been developed which is particularly suited for time-sensitive applications, e.g.TVCs.

Through consistent use of our sonic logos, we will drive awareness and a more likeable perception of the Bayer brand.

• Sonic DNA Track also known as the Bayer Brand Theme 

Our Sonic DNA, over 2 minutes in length, is a unique piece of music which embodies the Bayer brand and contains our sonic DNA elements. Also known as our Brand Theme, it takes listeners on a sonic journey and will act as a blueprint, from which all present and future branded sonic assets are born from.   Additionally, we have developed several cutdowns of sonic DNA (15 sec, 30 sec and 60 sec), which we can leverage depending on the respective channel needs.

• Watermarked Track Adaptations 

Watermarking involves incorporating Bayer’s recognizable sonic DNA elements into new musical compositions – flexing and adaptation our sonic DNA into music with different moods, styles and genres, suitable for various narratives and content. The sonic DNA is always present in every adaptation, building brand recall and familiarity across all our touchpoints over time.   This first watermarked track adaptation is called ‘Considered’ and developed in a several variations: a long form track (1 min 27 sec), as well as short cut downs to 15 sec, 30 sec and 60 sec, which could support our sensitive story to sound more considered across touch points.

Auditory Direction

• Background audio should be 20 dB lower than the foreground audio or there shouldn’t be background audio at all. 
• Include audio descriptions where possible and appropriate or take care to write voice-overs in a way that negate the need for audio descriptions.