Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/69535
Sonic T hese days everything is a brand: products, corporations, networks, sports teams, even authors. They all have a unique identity and personality, and they create an expe- rience for people. Every brand has an image, but what about a voice? Music and sound have a way of staying with people long after an experience is over. From rousing sports anthems and catchy jingles, to the enticing sound of a missed text or new email, sounds can stir emo- tions and elicit a response. Sonic branding is a way for brands to connect with their consumers on an emotional level. STEPHEN ARNOLD MUSIC Hard hitting and edgy — like the grit and blood and guts on the playing field — dramatic and cinematic, with global appeal. Those were the sonic branding criteria for CNN International's World Sport, the network's marquis sports news show that runs seven days a week, several times a day. Dallas-based Stephen Arnold Music (www.stephenar- noldmusic.com) created an original sonic brand and music package that consists of seven music arrangements cover- ing themes like drama, high energy, percussive, serious, anticipation, big event, and greatness on the field. Each arrangement has its own identity to function in different segments in the show. Stephen Arnold Music, owned by composer Stephen Arnold, has a long-standing history with CNN. They did many shows on the CNN Headline News channel, as well as shows on CNN International, such as Amanpour, Inter- national Desk, Inside the Middle East and Inside Africa. "There is a history of developing sonic brands for various shows on the network," says Chad Cook, creative director at Stephen Arnold Music. "The communication we have with the creatives when doing these projects, having a his- tory with them, really helps us to understand what they're looking for. We have a relationship where we know how they think and they know how we think. That creative short hand is so invaluable, especially when you're under such a tight deadline on such an important brand." The initial creative briefing for the theme song was five pages long and referenced vastly different genres, from the cinematic orchestral sound of Gladiator and Hans Zimmer to Enya to the 32 Post • June 2012 Chad Cook, Stephen Arnold and Paul West (L-R): The studio created music for the opening of CNN International's World Sport. Branding Creating an audio identity that mirrors a show, company or team's personality. By Jennifer Walden heavy industrial drum beats of Prodigy. The theme also needed to appeal to a global audience, since it was for CNN International. "We had to take them through all those emotions on the first cut," says Cook. "It ended up being over a minute long, knowing that it's going to be cut back to something that is 10 seconds long. And, it had to be something that was global. It couldn't sound too Euro- pean, or too western." What kind of theme would resonate with sports fans around the world? Arnold and Cook went on YouTube and studied different themes from different countries to find the commonalities in the sounds. Two main common elements were big percussion and dra- matic string arrangements. "We used congas, timpanis, kettle drums, Kyoto drums and tablas," describes Cook. "It was a mish-mash. The common thread we found, which tends to be in all sports, is a sense of drama, and almost cinema. You need more of the soaring French horns and staccato strings and string figures, adding that bit of drama to things, and adding crescendos. Ultimately, it's a cinematic piece with world percussion, strings and lots of strong arrangement figures, meaning lines that stand out as melodic. It's not a groove-orientated package where you're just bumping out to break. There are a lot of little melodies and hooks, and interesting ways all the cuts end that sort of leave you with a big finish." For this rebrand, CNN wanted the music to stick into the fore- seeable future, rather than rethinking it every few years. They wanted the music to be memorable and identifiable, almost like a legacy to www.postmagazine.com