Sonic branding

And Bao Bao Voice, an installation by Bao Bao Issey Miyake at the 2019 London Design Festival to showcase the brand’s Bao Bao bags, transformed the famed geometric designs into musical instruments. The exhibit is on show at east London’s Protein Studios until September 23, 2019, and the house describes Bao Bao Voice as “an interactive, multisensory event that demonstrates the playful nature of Bao Bao Issey Miyake.” Visitors to the installation can move the bags to make different sounds—based around a human voice, bird, drum, guitar, and a piano—and generate visual projections of the bags’ textures and shapes via sensors in the designs. The four bags can produce over 100 sounds, together creating a melody.

Sound artist Manabu Shimada devised the composition, sound design, and sound software development for the Bao Bao Voice installation, with creative and art direction by Anyhow Studio. Shimada believes that the rise in popularity of voice assistants and podcasts means that “opportunities to get information visually are decreasing.” He says that companies must expand their sonic branding now, to “stimulate emotional amplification. Our ears have unconsciously been disciplined in Western music’s harmony, so when listening to music in a minor scale, we are likely feeling sad.”

Shimada has also been working with Chinese car company GAC Motor to create almost 50 sounds for its electric cars, including the AVAS, or acoustic vehicle alerting system. This allows pedestrians to better hear electric cars approaching. Shimada says that, alongside its safety application, the AVAS will also be important for “sonic corporate branding.”

Indeed, BMW has tapped composer Hans Zimmer to create the sound for one of its electric cars, BMW Vision M Next, in partnership with Renzo Vitale, acoustic engineer and sound designer at the BMW Group. The partnership was announced in June 2019 and Zimmer and Vitale have developed the BMW IconicSounds Electric series of sounds. The brand says that its aim is to address the “gap in the emotionality of the driving experience” when driving a silent electric car. “We want to get BMW IconicSounds Electric in position for customers who value emotional sound,” said Jens Thiemer, customer and brand senior vice president for BMW. “With BMW IconicSounds Electric they will be able to experience the joy of driving with all their senses.”