Research first, then notes.
Three phases and fifteen deliverables, with a written brief agreed before composition begins. Every phase ends with something a brand team can react to.
What happens, in order.
Brand and market research
The brand, the category, and the sound already occupying it.
Brand desirability framework
The emotional and strategic position, read down to the archetype.
Brand story discovery
Legacy, values and aspirations, read for what the sound has to carry.
Competitive sound analysis
What the category already sounds like, and where the gaps sit.
Category expectations
What listeners in this sector already assume a brand should sound like.
Sound board
A curated set of references that fixes the working territory.
Sonic concept development
Direction settled on paper, then motifs to hear.
Moodboard and direction setting
The visual and emotional identity translated into audio terms.
Written sonic brief
Tone, texture, instrumentation and mood, agreed before composition starts.
Regional adaptation strategy
How the identity holds across languages and markets.
Sonic sketching and motif
Several motifs built for comparison, rather than one to approve.
Programming options
Variations put in front of stakeholders while there is still room to move.
Motif and integration
The motif built out, adapted, cleared and handed over.
Final motif and brand theme
The primary sound elements locked and produced.
Platform adaptation
Versions for broadcast, digital, app, retail and service touchpoints.
Mixing and testing
Clarity and recall checked on the speakers it will actually meet.
Licensing and compliance
Rights, clearances and the paperwork that follows them.
Handover and guidelines
Masters in every format, plus the rules that keep it consistent.
Four rungs, and what sits on each one.
Each scale carries a reference. Proposals and correspondence point back to these, so nothing gets lost between a call and an inbox. See the work- The signature mark, three to five seconds
- An extended version, eight to ten seconds
- A render for the channel it matters most on
- Sounds for product states such as success or failure
- Adaptations across instrumentation or emotional range
- Written guidelines
- Everything in Scale 01
- Adaptations for instrumentation, orchestration and emotional range
- Sounds for product states, including success and failure
- Multi-channel renders across digital, broadcast and physical space
- Sonic branding guidelines
- A mapped customer journey with sound written per touchpoint
- Music and sound effects palettes
- Voiceover guidelines
- Everything in Scale 02
- The customer journey mapped touchpoint by touchpoint
- Custom sounds written for each of those moments
- Music and sound effects palettes
- Voiceover guidelines covering style, tone and language
- Systems for separate sub-brands under a master identity
- Hierarchy rules governing how sub-brands relate
Related · Tata Tea Premium
- Everything in Scale 03, applied to the master brand
- A system for each sub-brand under that master
- Rules for how the hierarchy sounds and where it flexes
- Regional and language variants across markets
- Guidelines detailed enough for internal teams to run alone
Rights and registration
Owning it outright.
SID·RPerpetuity licensing
Scoped by territory and term, so a brand can hold the mark for as long as it intends to use it.
Palettes
Sound effects and music built for the brand, licensed separately from the core identity.
Sound mark registration
Support on filing the finished mark with the registry, which turns the work into something defensible.
What makes the work go faster.
None of this needs to be finished before starting. Work can run in parallel with a brand book that is still firming up.
The brand book
Or whatever exists of it. Positioning and personality matter more than polish.
One named decision-maker
With feedback consolidated before it reaches us. This protects the timeline more than anything else.
The list of places
Where the sound has to work, from films and apps through to counters and stations.
Markets and languages
Which ones it has to travel to, and where regional adaptation is expected.
Existing audio
Anything already in use, along with who currently owns it.
Technical constraints
Formats, loudness targets and any platform limits the assets have to meet.