On the epitome of audio branding: An interview with Walter Werzowa

Born in Vienna, Austria, Werzowa studied classical guitar and electronic music at Vienna Musik Hochschule. His collaboration with Otto M. Zykan opened doors for contemporary classical music. Werzowa then moved to the United States of America, where he studied film music at the University of Southern California. He is most famous for having composed and produced the Intel “Bong,” which is allegedly broadcast somewhere in the world once every five minutes. Since its conception in 1994, he has re-arranged it to keep it current. Besides audio branding, Werzowa also composes music for feature films, and is the owner and founder of the L.A.-based music production studio "Musikvergnuegen".

Reese: You created the game-changing Intel mnemonic. I’m intrigued and fascinated by the moment when these ideas come: does it feel different, or is it just another song you write or commercial you do?

Werzowa: It’s definitely not comparable to any other projects we’ve done since; it’s almost like losing your virginity. It only became clear about a year in that this was huge; we’d created something that affected the business. People reference it all the time as the most performed melody in broadcast and so on. But when I conceived it, I was not aware of the impact. I just tried to do the best job I could on the weekend it was born, so to say. The melody just felt right: I had no idea it would be so big.

Reese: But you’d written hit songs before.

Werzowa: It’s not comparable to song writing, which is about emotion, or maybe where you want to say something political. I did have a number one hit with Edelweiss, but it felt very different – you’re in a different zone in your brain and in the whole process. Writing for audio branding is much more about constructing, crafting. There’s a certain science. We develop methodologies: how to make this successful, how to make it easier for clients – and I think that’s opened many doors since.

Reese: So it didn’t feel different? You just did the best job you could and then let it go?

Werzowa: I read recently that when you look at the brain of a performing musician under MRI and he’s singing a melody he knows, very different brain sensors light up than if you give him something he’s never performed before. Then suddenly it affects the part of the brain that’s concerned with making, with constructing. I think that’s what happened with Intel – when I did this, I was coming up with a solution to a problem; there was a lot of craftsmanship there.

Reese: Have you been asked to do something similar?

Werzowa: Probably twice a week. Yesterday at a lunch with a potential client they said: “We would like to have something like Intel.” And I said: “As successful as Intel, as functional as Intel or just a copy of Intel?” Because if you want to be as successful as Intel, there are parts I can’t control. The media buy was definitely a big part of the success. So was the timing – it’s almost like timing a hit song. There are so many gifted performers who’ve made great music, but when they released it the timing was not quite right. If we could control all the factors, there would only be hit songs.

Reese: Can you talk about your process with the client? One problem I’ve constantly come across is the challenge of communicating ideas to composers and musicians.

Werzowa: The process of writing audio branding is definitely not a composer’s act alone. It’s not about finding a cool melody, it’s about so much more: research, psychology, neuroscience…It’s about interpreting the brand experience. Which is always subjective, so you have to be as objective as possible. You have to ask yourself: “Is it a global company, is it a local company, is it just in the United States?” If we were writing something purely for a French company it would sound very different than if it was global.

Reese: So many factors determine the right sound for a brand.

Werzowa: We could talk for two years about music and how it’s perceived. There’s an amazing video out there – David Byrne talking about the influence of architecture on music. Rehearsal rooms have an impact, not just sonically but in terms of the atmosphere…If you present to the creative director and the copywriters and producers, they’re concerned about the TV spot and the influence of the music on the story; but when you’re presenting to a client they have different concerns. Most of the time you get the sense: “This is it? This three seconds is us?” They expect something with the impact of an opera or a big hit. The difference with audio branding is that you “hear” it – you don’t “listen” to it. When I am listening to something, I’m aware of it, I try to judge it. Audio branding should be something you’re barely aware of. It works subconsciously.

Reese: How do you know that these particular three seconds are the essence of the brand experience? Do you present two or three melodies to the client? Do you provide options?

Werzowa: It’s a process. We tend to develop out of that process one favourite and hone in on that concept. But from the start we try to be sensitive and really listen to the client: how does their brand feel? It’s almost like a mini movie score. If you think of ET, the melody represents the movie. What we’re doing is a three second movie score for the brand.

Reese: Are you a brand?

Werzowa: Yes, Musikvergnuegen is a brand.

Reese: So if I listen to a hundred different experiences that you’ve created for brands, I would always know that it was you…

Werzowa: We definitely have a handwriting, although I don’t think you’d necessarily recognize it just from the sound. I think the process is very consistent when people work with us.

Reese: Is it easier to work directly with the brand, or with the agency?

Werzowa: It’s different. Agencies have so many more objectives. They’re about inter-creation. Corporations tend to think more about their image, the big pictures, the master brand. The biggest challenge for mnemonics is that agencies also want to sell 30 second spots. Taking ten seconds of their storytelling time feels like an awful lot to them – agencies often don’t like mnemonics for that reason. 

Reese: Do you think audio could become a new form of advertising? For instance, playing an audio logo immediately after a Champions’ League goal? Or when you put your key card in the door at a hotel?

Werzowa: I think it’s already happening, but you have to be careful. In sports, some fans may think it’s a little obtrusive. But it’s no doubt just a question of time and technology. The Intel mnemonic was in a couple of movies and they paid for that…Cell phones already do that: the branded ring tone has been around for a while.

Reese: A recent study linked the economic value of a brand to whether it’s audible or not – whether it has a recognizable sound. When you look at extremely valuable brands like Apple, Nokia, Intel and so on, they all know how they sound. Does every brand need to know that today? How important is sound?

Werzowa: We all know it’s extremely important. We talked with Apple and the Apple agency and they didn’t want to have a single mnemonic, but we suggested that they should have some kind of cadence; that they cut their licensed songs so that they have a 4/1 or 5/1 ending on iPhone or other devices. In that way the band unconsciously reinforces the brand name, which works very well.

Reese: Should other brands claim their sonic space, when 20,000 new brands approach the market every year and attention is the new currency?

Werzowa: The advantage of audio branding is that in three seconds you can get across the full experience of a brand: it’s clear, it’s concise, it crosses cultures and you’re saving on your media buy. I don’t think all of those 20,000 companies should have a mnemonic – that would be noise pollution. A company needs a mnemonic if it has a real brand experience, a philosophy behind it, rather than the shop next door selling hardware. A Sony or an Apple is a real experience company.

Reese: How do you evaluate what you do? It must be sometimes very hard for a client to understand why they’re paying so much for three seconds, compared to a 30 second spot.

Werzowa: You can’t compare it with a 30 second commercial because an ad has a shelf life; pears and apples have a different shelf life than jewels. If I can represent the philosophy of a company, in the long term, across media, this obviously has way more value than a 30 second music piece. If the mnemonic helps the company grow for the next 20 years, you could almost take the cost of a 30 second spot and multiply by 20.

Reese: But when you give them the bill, how can they judge the potential return on their investment?

Werzowa: Well, 30 second spots are generally there to sell a particular product. But mnemonics are about the master brand: the benefit accumulates, like radioactivity: each hearing adds to the last one, like each x-ray adds to the last. Actually we saw that with Intel: before the mnemonic Intel had consumer awareness of something like 8%, one and a half years later it was 85%. You don’t have to say much more than that.