Can we assume that sound logos are perceived as such?

It is common to consider the sound logo as an auditory equivalent of the visual representation of a brand/company. A sound logo is typically a sound of limited duration with musical characteristics (Jackson, 2003). You can characterize sound logos from different perspectives; see e.g. Jackson (2003) for a historical perspective or Graakjær, (2008) for a TV advertising perspective.

An example of how sound brand practitioners consider the role of sound logos is; “An important tool in creating such corporate sounds is the sound logo, i.e. a distinctive, short melody that serves to generate an identity in a company’s various interactions with its various publics. Just like visual logos, these short sonic sequences help to distinguish the company from possible competitors in the mind of the customer” (interview with K. Kjems and S. Holme in Graakjær & Jantzen, 2009). This statement cannot generalized into a common way of describing sound logos by sound brand practitioners, but it does offer some cues as to what could be considered a functional description of sound logos i.e. generate identity, distinguish company, a basis for the corporate sound etc.

The big question from a perceptual point of perspective is then - do consumers actually perceive these short sounds with (normally) music characteristics as brand elements/logos ?

An initial analysis we have done on a listening experiment performed on a selection of 10 sound logos point doesn’t support the notion that (even "well known" sound logos) are perceived as representations of brands. Even though we cannot state with certainty that this is the case (the study was only exploratory and not designed to confirm this hypothesis), it seems that we cannot assume that a sound logo is perceived as a "logo" and not just a sound.

Consumers need to experience sounds as logos, before they become sound logos. References and connotations between sounds and brands needs to be established. Not only to “claim” a sound as your own, but also to raise the consumers awareness that these short sounds represents a given brand from a more general perspective.

It seems, sadly, that media effort is a crucial element.