Favourite Sonic branding case of Patrick Dooms: Proximus

“In the supermarket I always have a hard time choosing between two brands of yoghurt and now I should pick my all-time favourite sonic branding?

The term sonic branding itself has barely existed for a few years and hasn’t been a trend for very long. Read: a must. Not that there was no such thing in the past. Lay people called it jingles, we professionals spoke of sonic triggers. Humo! Zeg Devos! The guitar chords of Douwe Egberts. Parapapapa.

Plenty of good cases, national and international. But if I think about what sonic branding means today and I should limit myself to one example, I would choose Struggle for Pleasure, the song by Wim Mertens that was Proximus' signature melody from 2000 to 2014. And even if it goes against rule number one of sonic branding: do not take existing work, you take the risk that the consumer will not recognize your brand, but the music. It was just the opposite with Wim Mertens' play. Struggle for Pleasure became “that Proximus tune”. Admittedly, it had everything.

In my classes I hold a musical recognition quiz every year and nothing scores as well as that Proximus tune. Even as a radio producer and director, I appreciated it daily. The first 4 notes were the perfect audio logo. Let the tune run a little further and you have the ideal support for a voice-over. In addition, the derivatives were countless: ringtones, ‘on hold’ music, you name it. And that for about 15 years! Many sonic branding specialists of today can only dream about this nostalgically.”