Let's Explore the Power of Sound: A Conversation with Laurence Minsky - Part 1

Audio Branding

“I was just looking at a LinkedIn post. And they’re talking about branding and strategy, and everything in there was visual. There was nothing about sound, nothing about texture, nothing about taste. And it all goes together in the brand and brand perception. But sound is so strong compared to sight. It directs. It helps direct sight. It helps interpret what you’re seeing.” -- Laurence Minsky

This week’s guest is a professor of advertising and social media marketing at Columbia College Chicago. His unique perspective, shaped by his early exposure to diverse music and a family deeply rooted in advertising, has fueled his success in the industry, and in our interview, he retraces his journey from being a music enthusiast to a respected advertiser, sharing captivating stories of his early interactions with sound and music. He’s an advertising, branding, and marketing consultant for many of the world’s leading brands, and the co-author of numerous best-selling marketing books, including a personal favorite of mine, Audio Branding: Using Sound to Build Your Brand.

His name is Laurence Minsky, and this is a conversation I’ve looked forward to sharing for a long time. If you’re interested in the power of sound, there’s a lot of great information in store.

As always, if you have questions for my guest, you’re welcome to reach out through the links in the show notes. If you have questions for me, visit audiobrandingpodcast.com where you’ll find a lot of ways to get in touch. You can also join regular Clubhouse chats in The Power of Sound House every Wednesday (check the schedule for times). Plus, subscribing to the newsletter will let you know when the new podcasts are available, when new audio rooms are scheduled and what they'll be about, and it'll give you access to a resource called The Studio with lots of interesting sound-related mp3s, videos, educational pdfs, and exclusive discounts from previous guests.

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(0:00:01) – Embracing the Power of Sound

We begin the episode with a look back at Laurence’s early memories of sound and his dad’s love of classic rock. “He took me to as a really, really young kid to Led Zeppelin,” Laurence recalls, “where I was, like, in the tenth-row center, so there was the stereo sound you’d hear” He also shares his first foray into audio branding, and how he discovered his enthusiasm for sound. “I was a psych major,” he says, “and I wanted to combine my interest in psychology, my interest in not just music but, you know, media and my interest in writing into one career. And advertising was it, since I knew about it.”

(0:11:27) - The Importance of Sound in Branding

We also discuss the power of branding, and how negative brand awareness can even overcome our firsthand impressions. “I read some research,” Laurence says, “about a large brand and pizza and, you know, in a blind taste test it scored off the charts. But then, when they put the company name on the pizza, it scored below the floor, you know, as if it was awful.” The conversation turns to the unique power sound has over visual marketing to shape a brand. “What is the definition of the brand?” he asks. “How does it get defined? What does it look like? That’s really more audio branding.”

(0:22:39) - AI’s Impact on Audio Branding

Laurence also talks about AI and its growing impact on everything from audio-first media to screenless interfaces. “You know,” he explains, “what is changing things is there’s more audio-enabled devices and more audio-enabled interfaces with generative AI. You have voice, you have conversational AI.” We discuss the expansion of conversational AI into every facet of our lives. “You talk to your Siri or Alexa,” Laurence says, “and that’s going to make voice and audio, branding and audio that much more important. It’s getting easier and easier to put sound into everything.”

Episode Summary

• Larry’s early memories and lifelong love for music and advertising.
• Sound’s crucial role in branding, marketing, and even taste and perception.
• The value of audio branding and the future of conversational AI.

Tune in next time as we talk about the growing value of distinctive sonic branding in a world of audio-first devices, the value of authentic human voices amid the AI revolution, and how many of the top companies are already staking just as much a claim in audio as in visual branding.

Connect with the Guest

Website: https://www.colum.edu/academics/faculty/detail/laurence-minsky.html

Find Laurence Minsky’s books on Amazon: https://amazon.com/author/laurenceminsky/

Connect with Laurence Minsky on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurenceminsky/

Follow Laurence Minsky on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/LaurenceMinsky/

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Editing/Production by Humberto Franco - https://humbertofranco.com/

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