Ritson on the UK’s top 10 sonic brands
From Autoglass to Netflix to Just Eat, Mark Ritson explores the brands with the most effective sonic assets.
Marketers are becoming increasingly aware of the power of sonic assets, but which brands have the most effective sonic identity?
Marketing Week columnist and Mini MBA founder Mark Ritson has talked before about the importance of using all five senses when trying to build a distinctive brand, and not relying solely on visual cues.
When it comes to defining a brand’s distinctive assets, he says his simple advice is “logo plus three”. So in addition to a logo, brands should think about having a distinctive colour, a brand character and a sonic identity – what used to be referred to as a jingle.
“We’re born with five senses and they’re all used to drive distinctiveness, but we’re trapped in 20% of the potential as we’re only using visual assets,” he says.
To explore what makes an effective sonic brand, Ritson has looked at the 80 currently operating in the UK.
Using data from Soundout, he has compiled his list of the UK’s top 10 sonic assets based on four scores measuring appeal, how well the sound matches the brand’s personality, value and salience.
Ritson’s top 10 sonic brands
| Brand | Appeal | Personality | Value | Salience | Total | |
| 1 | Just Eat | 82% | 79% | 78% | 86% | 81% |
| 2 | Intel | 80% | 80% | 75% | 76% | 76% |
| 3 | Moonpig | 78% | 77% | 64% | 82% | 75% |
| 4 | Netflix | 85% | 64% | 51% | 83% | 71% |
| 5 | Webuyanycar.com | 76% | 73% | 72% | 60% | 70% |
| 6 | GoCompare | 77% | 41% | 74% | 87% | 70% |
| 7 | Sheilas’ Wheels | 72% | 89% | 61% | 49% | 68% |
| 8 | Checkatrade.com | 76% | 70% | 47% | 73% | 68% |
| 9 | Haribo | 80% | 61% | 42% | 86% | 67% |
| 10 | Autoglass | 76% | 70% | 47% | 75% | 67% |
Watch the video above to get the full Ritson experience.
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