Machines That Generate Emotion
Why melody beats every other brand asset: distinctive, ownable and endlessly flexible. With live listening from Shell and CEER.
Sonic branding · Speaker · Author
Music and sound are machines that generate emotion.
Daniel M. Jackson founded Sonicbrand in 1999 and wrote Sonic Branding, the first book on the subject. Today he leads Age of Audio, and he speaks to brand, marketing and music audiences about why the most powerful brand asset is one you can't see.
Has spoken atCannes LionsSXSWFestival of MarketingRiyadh Music WeekInternational Sound Awards
Say it through sound. Daniel's work for Shell, DHL, LEGO, CEER and more can be heard at Sonicbrand.
Listen at sonicbrand.comTalks
Four talks, every one of them heard as well as seen
Ears, Not Eyes: Brand Identity After the Screen
Voice assistants, AI agents and audio commerce have no screen. What a brand sounds like when it can't be seen.
Pulse of the Land: Sounding a Nation's First Car Brand
Inside the sonic identity for CEER, Saudi Arabia's first homegrown car brand. Gold, Best Audio Brand, Transform Awards MEA.
Hit Brands: How Music Builds Value
Music as identity, engagement and revenue, and why brands should license rather than buy.
On stage
Selected appearances
Riyadh Music Week — Sonic Branding & the Power of Music to Enhance Brand Equity (panel)
Festival of Marketing, London — Music-First Marketing
SXSW, Austin — Music Agency of Record (panel), and the Hit Brands book signing
Cannes Lions — Music and Advertising (workshop)
Books
He wrote the book. Then he wrote the next one.
Sonic Branding
Sonic Branding: An Introduction
“I actually believe this may be the first book on the subject.”
Keith Clack, The Bookseller
Hit Brands
Hit Brands: How Music Builds Value for the World's Smartest Brands
With Richard Jankovich and Eric Sheinkop. Three strategic models for music as identity, engagement and revenue, with case studies and interviews.
80+ brands across Sonicbrand, CORD and Age of Audio
Shell · DHL · LEGO · Nestlé · Nescafé · Barclaycard · Santander · Visa · Chase · BT · Vodafone · ITV · The Guardian · easyJet · Riyadh Air · CEER · stc · UEFA Champions League · FIFA World Cup 2018 · Chelsea FC · Madison Square Garden · Cunard · Dove · Lipton · Lucozade · Marantz · Puma · Toshiba · The National Lottery · and more
Thinking
Writing
Sonic branding: the questions people askWhat it is, sonic logos, melody, cost, licensing and choosing an agency. Eighteen straight answers.Why melody beats every other brand assetDistinctive, ownable, flexible: why the best sonic branding starts with the tune.“Alexa… how do I get a brand voice?”In voice-activated systems there's no screen, and a hundred-year-old logo is redundant.
About
Daniel M. Jackson has spent more than 25 years putting music and sound at the centre of how brands are built.
He began as a media planner, using data to choose music for Renault's advertising. In 1999 he founded Sonicbrand, the UK's first music branding agency, and in 2003 he published Sonic Branding, the first book on the discipline. In 2009 he co-founded CORD, which billed more than £30m in a decade, became music agency of record for Nescafé and was sold to Keywords Studios in 2018.
He relaunched Sonicbrand in 2020 and is now CEO of Age of Audio, the London group behind Sonicbrand, RESISTER and WMP, whose recent work for CEER won Gold for Best Audio Brand at the Transform Awards.
Full biographyBook Daniel
Bring the sound to your stage
Keynotes, panels, masterclasses and workshops for brand, marketing, music and technology audiences.