‘Idea behind 7Up’s global sonic identity was to create the sound of ultimate refreshment’

Up, Up, Up, Up, 7Up – this is the first global sonic identity for Pepsico’s lemon-lime-flavored non-caffeinated soft drink, 7 Up, executed by sonic branding agency, BrandMusiq. Launched first in India, this sonic identity will eventually roll out across all global markets. Calling this assignment as “a fantastic challenge as well as a great opportunity,” Rajeev Raja, Founder & Soundsmith, BrandMusiq says Vishal Kaul (SVP & Chief Marketing Officer for International Beverages at PepsiCo) reached out to him saying, “it would be interesting to have a sonic
identity for 7Up.” The BrandMusiq team then went “through a brand immersion,” with the 7Up team to understand the brand’s positioning.

Raja says, “The importance of having another ownable brand asset or distinctive brand asset was the need of the hour. Today the media environment is cluttered with a visual overload with attention spans dropping. In the midst of the enormous visual information, how does a brand make its presence felt and heard?” He continues, “Therefore, the sensorial dimension of sound becomes very important to differentiate the brand and make it instantly recognizable and at a deeper level to really create something that evokes the feeling of my brand. It's not just about cognition and recognition but what emotion you want to evoke.”

Music is known to be a carrier of emotion and even at a neuroscientific level music has proven abilities to trigger memory structures in the brain. Raja highlights the importance of understanding the science of sound and the art of music and then link it to the uniqueness of a brand. Raja says, “We try and understand a brand as if it were a human being. Once we understand the personality of the brand, as distinct from its competition, then we try and understand it using Indian Navarasas, the key emotions that human beings go through. What does the brand want to evoke? Does it want to evoke laughter, fun or a sense of caring or excitement and adventure?” For example, if a brand wants to evoke excitement, a gentle flute wouldn’t work, while a guitar or a drumbeat would do the needful. As per Raja, BrandMusiq has in its repertoire starting points for music for various moods, characters and brand personalities.

Raja recollects that after understanding brand 7Up, it followed BrandMusiq’s three-stage process and then created initial sketches of sound, called sonic mapping, to deliver what the brand stands for musically and sonically, and then created the sonic identity system, a MOGOSCAPE. He explains, “MOGOSCAPE is a sonic palette, a 360-degree surround for the brand, what we may call a brand anthem, but without any words, it's just musical with instruments. Within that is a MOGO – i.e. a Musical Logo – and in today’s digital world we also create a Mini MOGO. A MOGO is typically 3 seconds while a Mini MOGO is 1.5 seconds or under.” The MOGO is used to queue digital transactions or alerts, notifications etc. He continues, “When we actually dived deeper into 7Up’s current positioning, it’s ultimate refreshment and that’s what we wanted to deliver sonically.”

Up, Up, Up, Up, 7Up

To idea behind creating the global sonic identity of 7Up was to create the sound of ultimate refreshment. The goal – the three second MOGO should communicate that transformative experience of sipping 7Up on a hot day. Raja explains, “We looked at 7Up and 7 struck a note, so, we looked at the 7 ascending notes that lead to a crescendo. What does refreshment sound like for 7Up? We set out to create a global sonic identity that captures the brand's fizzy, uplifting spirit. We began with a simple idea of the 7 notes to refreshment, a seven-note MOGO melody that represents the cool and playful world of 7Up.” He continues, “The sound combines category codes like the signature splash, the opening/pop of a can, the fizz and a melody designed to evoke optimism, lightness, and that unmistakable super-duper refresher, energy. The result was a sonic identity that's instantly ownable, emotionally resonant and built to travel across geographies, languages, and platforms.” This was rigorously tested internally and followed up with global research by 7Up with two options in the pool. “The final MOGO came out as the absolute winner across all its markets. People could just hear it once, for three seconds, and they could hum it back,” says Raja.

7Up’s sonic identity will now be used globally across all its communications with the background score being the MOGOSCAPE and then signing off with the MOGO. While different versions and moods can be created with the MOGOSCAPE, the MOGO remains constant.

The Retail Revolution

One of the earliest proponents of sonic identity was Myntra – done by BrandMusiq - whose unique musical logo, or "MOGO," represented the brand's essence of transforming worlds through fashion, combining the warmth and positivism of a young India with premium, aspirational fashion cues. BrandMusiq also crafted the MOGO for Asian Paints with the MOGO seamlessly integrated across Asian Paints’ diverse content and media properties and helped deliver brand recall and emotional resonance with audience. Even biscuit major, Britannia used its iconic sonic signature tune, “Ting Ting Ti-Ding”, in collaboration with the q-commerce platform, Zepto last year. Every time a consumer added Britannia’s product to the q-commerce’s cart, the sonic signature tune “Ting Ting TiDing”, would ring. However, these examples are primarily online or on TV, radio etc and Raja is confident of the same being replicated offline across retail touchpoints.

Raja says that the possibilities in the retail environment are endless, right from dispensers, fridges to coolers at stores. For example, every time the dispenser or cooler is opened, the consumer can hear the Mini MOGO. Another example is a QR code, on the 7Up bottle or can, which when scanned will trigger the MOGO and lead the user to the 7Up playlist. He says, “Work is in progress to get the MOGO in the retail space. Once you have a sonic asset, the possibilities are enormous. 7Up are currently doing a lot of work on social media, creating social media
reels and even consumer activations with the sonic identity.”

He emphasizes, “Sonic Identity is a very big step for the entire FMCG world. It's not just going to be in retail. It's going to sign off their television spots, get viral on social media, on reels, etc. and of course, across retail stores. The possibilities are enormous. Just like no brand can think of launching without a logo, the day is not far where the MOGO is going to become equally important as the logo and as I say, MOGO, is the new logo.”

AI-Powered Emotion Mapping, SoniqScan

BrandMusiq proprietary tool, SoniqScan, an AI-powered emotion mapping tool, makes it possible for AI to tell you what emotions and moods a particular piece of music evokes and whether it fits within the brand parameters. This in turn delivers a fresh, multi-sensory brand experience. BrandMusiq studied the entire history of 7Up, the earlier soundtracks etc, and fed it into its AI machine, generating sonic parameters. The same process was done with competition brands. From this emerged very clear distinctive sonic world was defined for 7Up and that served as the foundation for 7Up’s entire sonic strategy. Raja says, “AI can help is at various levels such as testing whether the sound created is within brand parameters. If you talk of generative AI, AI start can start creating versions with the sonic identity embedded, much faster than what human beings can. However, we still have a way to go between human artistic composition and AI's composition. Right now, I would say, the world is still in a hybrid state.” He adds, “We want to create sonic identities which are true to a brand. At this stage, AI is an enabler rather than a creator. Looking ahead, who knows the way AI is moving and how things will change. For the moment, we see AI helping and speeding up our processes.”

Sonic Identity: The New Age Jingle?

When TV, Cinema and radio were the primary advertising platforms, jingles ruled the roost with many consumers signing entire jingles from brand campaigns, helping build brand loyalty. However, could a sonic identity be the answer to build brand loyalty in the era of decreasing attention spans in today’s digital world? Raja says, “Today, nobody has the attention span and time. Therefore, to stand out in this clutter, you need the sensorial of sound. The MOGO is three seconds and is incredibly efficient because of its ability to start getting associated with the brand world. When you hear the MOGO consistently associated with the brand, it becomes associated with the brand's imagery and narrative.” He adds, “You don't even need to see any communication from the brand as you are already experiencing the brand and this is triggered in just three seconds.”

With music playing such an integral part of Gen Zs life, the TG for 7Up, Raja believes that a sonic identity provides an opportunity to create interesting user generated content and get artists to do their own interpretations. He says, “It's just dependent on the ideas you can come up with and put it out there. So, virality is the next step for sonic identity. Brands now realizing how the sensorial of sound can add to the brand emotion, i.e Brand's EQ or Emotional Quotient. A sonic identity can add to the brand's experience and bring it closer to the
consumer.”