We’re just a few months away from the arrival of 10 million tourists in Dubai during a period of time known as Dubai’s Event Season.10 million people who’ll spend, on average, about $700 every day from November till March.
Based on the average duration of a holiday in Dubai, that works out to about $28 billion. So, you can imagine how the Retail, F&B and Entertainment sectors in this Emirate are already gearing up and investing heavily in promotional material which will line the streets, fill your screens and generally assault your senses.
And while we’re on the subject of senses, how will sonic branding influence purchase decisions during this period or lure multitudes to all the special events?
The Dubai Shopping Festival, which will feature around 15000 brands competing for attention in malls and souks around the city, will once again be the main event of the season. Perhaps this’ll be sonic branding’s finest hour. The marketing sector has woken up to the emotive pulling power of audio signatures and immersive, bespoke music.
If you now factor in the idea that this is the one time 10 million people aren’t being encouraged to spend money but are determined to, audio cues will take on a different dimension. Certain brands, or the retail outlets whish sell them, may inject a touch of urgency into their sonic marketing component. Or, depending on location or context, may may apply a more festive instrumentation to a tune that’s already associated with their product.
The investment to upgrade sonic branding for this festival will certainly be a priority for marketers who recognise that the shopping festival is the only time in a year when shoppers are determined to dent their bank accounts no matter what. And let’s not forget the empirical evidence that music changes the chemical balance in the brain to induce a sense of happiness and energy.
This is sounding more and more like the perfect example of low-hanging fruit!
Imagine youself in a taxi or Uber. The radio’s on, tuned to Dubai 92. A radio ad for a brand of jeans comes on, a brand you happen to wear.
The brand’s audio mnemonic brings the ad to a close. Fast forward to you strolling through the mall, credit card ready to be drawn quicker than a gunslinger at the OK Corral, and what do you hear? The same audio mnemonic but a little different, perhaps more upbeat. Does this pull a switch in your head and force you to march zombie-like to the relevant retailer to purchase new jeans? No. (Some of you are murmuring ‘what a pity’ right now, aren’t you?)
Sorry to say that’s not what sonic branding does. But it sure stacks the cards in favour of your preferred jeans brand. And that’s the beauty of it, isn’t it? Sonic branding doesn’t try and make a sale. It’s simply the right side of the brain making a pitch to the left side of the brain.
But the kicker here, is that it was the left side that brought you to the mall in the first place, courtesy of the Dubai Shopping Festival’s promise of big discounts.
We can’t wait to see how marketers use sonic branding during Dubai’s upcoming Event Season.
Keep your ears wide open.
By John Smeddle, Creative Head, WithFeeling.
