August 23, 2022 • 12 mins
Brand voice is no longer just about the copy. Case in point, The Orange Song by Home Depot and Rory Doggett. Lisa Destefano, former VP of Brand Marketing and Creative at Home Depot, and I conclude our discussion on “the sound of doing”.
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Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:03):
Welcometo the Sound In Marketing podcast.
I'm your host, Jeanna Isham.
Owner and founder of Dreamr Productionsand Sound in Marketing Learning.
I create, consult and educate
brands and individualson the power of sound in marketing.
Looking to create branded soundor need a sound strategist?
Head on over to www.DreamrProductions.comand let's chat.
(00:25):
That's www.DreamrProductions.com.
Want to learn more about soundand marketing these days?
Go to www.SoundInMarketing.com.
There's courses and resources galore.
Now back to the show.
We pick up where we left off,talking with Lisa DiStefano,
Home Depot's current VP of Brand Marketingand Creative.
(00:46):
We've been discussing the success and long
reaching effect of HomeDepot signature song, The Orange Theme.
In part one, Lisa described howthey implemented sonic branding exercises
with this song at the centerto truly make it the sound of doing
as a sonic brander
I'm so glad you went throughsonic branding exercises
and put this into the foundation.
(01:07):
I'm so happy to hear thatbecause the thing is, like,
maybe this specific attributewon't last for forever,
but once you have that foundation,you can build off of it,
use a little bit of the oldand do some new
and just kind of babystep it into something else
as you evolve as a company,because you will.
You were just saying,like you had discount on orange paint.
(01:27):
And so that was just how it worked.
You were trying to save
and cut costs at the beginning,but now you're a larger company
and you can actually grow and thriveand do things.
So that's just so exciting to hear.
And I'm excited to to see how this evolves
and transitions and transposesinto other things.
Would you say that the sound would be moreof a brand awareness
(01:50):
and growth,or is it more in performance marketing?
At first I would have said, you know,
as we were growing the brand
and trying to maintain our positionin an environment,
the the branding element ofthat was the central focus.
But it is become synonymousand can be used anywhere.
(02:11):
It's an attention grabberin that in that performance
moment, it is in some ways clickbaitbecause it is.
You hear it and you're like, whatis Home Depot telling me now, right?
There's a trusted conversationcoming in this case.
And and I think it's also attractiveto our partners.
You know, that idea,even in the retail media space and people
(02:31):
wanting to invest in our platform with usand so many large companies like ours
have the opportunity and we are havingthis very strong brand experience,
this very strong set of brand attributesand and tools that they can use.
I think it becomes,you know, a deeper advantage
for us to have these unique propositions,sound being one of them.
(02:51):
And in the video and in thethe digital space, in the social space,
you know, sound off, sound on.
Right.
You need all of those attributesto be able to attract and
and be part of that storylineand every single piece of it.
I think people sometimes under estimatewhat it can do
and the power that it can do.
To your point on sonic branding,when you really start to dig in and
(03:13):
and think about the sensesand utilizing as many of them as possible
in the relationship that you buildwith your customer in terms of messaging,
you know,
this is just a sweet spot that I thinkpeople sometimes may not think about.
Deeply enough continuity,that ability to have a play in that space,
I think is super positive for usas an organization
(03:35):
and as a creative organization,to be thinking holistically.
It's a different playin a different angle.
What's the sound?
You know, the soundgoing to be for this particular moment,
leveraging that original spot.
So I would geek out with you all daylong on it.
I think once you get into it, you know,and you start to really think about
creative from this type of anglein a soundscape for your environment,
(03:58):
as if it were, you know, a,you know, longer form video.
Often those cases, right?
You think about it in that way, but in theshort form I think is pretty powerful.
There's a depth to an experienceyou have with the customer
(04:26):
when it's more all inclusiveand all in.
you watch somethingthat's one thing when you feel that be
if you're
if you're sound is strong enoughand it's turned up enough and you hear that
the whole vibration of itis energetic and powerful.
And that is a whole nother level of
(04:48):
just seeing someone do something,or hearing a voiceover on top of it.
But that, that is a unique thing.
And I think that's why, as yousaid, right,
there's the guitar riff,but there's that, that strong beat.
And then we can interjectthe sound of a drill
or something happening,and it feels right.
And it's visceral.I can feel this happening.
And that's a pretty magical thing for us.
(05:09):
It's certainly something we're not goingto, you know,
even if the world were to changeand we were to walk away from it,
I think we're the power of what we learnedthrough this experience.
Will will be part of us
and the way we think of our overall brand,brand standards and brand voice.
When you say brand voice, right, peoplethink about the way you write copy
and that, and I think our brand voices is
deeper than that, which is, very, very,very cool and exciting for a creative.
(05:31):
I think the word brand voiceis being reassessed because I agree,
people always thought that it was copy,but it's so much more than that.
Had drum lines work it.
We've had marching bands
work it, we've had our associateswork it on their own, social media.
It's a catchy, energetic thingthat people just love to play with.
So yes, we have some amazing workthat we've been gifted
(05:53):
by a lot of peoplethat have exactly that energy around them.
Lots of orange buckets upside downmake a lot of really great beats.
Do you have a favorite,
either an iteration that a
fan did or one that you actually usedin an official campaign?
The original is always my favorite.
What I think is interestingis the fact that people can recognize that
(06:16):
beat, even in work like 545,which was very much an ode
to our customers and the peoplethat are doers and that experience.
What kind of person would come here?
at 5:45 a.m.
well, there's Carly, a carpenterjust like her dad.
There's Juan.
(06:37):
He's building a house and a better life.
Kenton and Sadie are here because thecouple that grouts together stays together.
Mary is a drama teacher,and she'll do anything for her students,
even build sets before class.
LaMar needs a torch andclamps for welding.
School
Ed’s putting in a pool for a friend.
(06:59):
We all need an Ed.
That's who’s in our parking lot
at 5:45 AM
real customers made for doing.
At the Home Depot, everything we do.
for them.
and even in that light morning
(07:21):
tone of getting ready to get doingyou hear those pluck pluck
pluck like you knowand you get it and it's coming you know
and it's it's soft but it's there and it'sthat just getting ready to get going.
And so that whole idea that you can,you can play it like that
and have that experience
and then come back with that,you know, equity track, be heavy,
(07:42):
you know, handed and you're still thinkingabout doing in those different ways.
I love holiday, I'm big holidayfan overall.
And so that idea of taking it to that
celebration place that comes with,you know, preparing for,
holidays and, and lightstwinkling in the background and that,
(08:03):
you know, that kind of tonalityis another one of my favorites.
(The Orange Song playing)
(08:27):
(The Orange Song Playing)
The magic that can happen when you startwith an incredibly strong Sonic
branded sonic sound and branding,and then you apply it,
and then it's authentically there,even if it is more subtle.
(08:50):
And I love it when people recognize it.
Even in those cases,would there be any piece of advice
that you would give to another brandon what you've learned,
or your suggestions on moves towardssonic branding?
Because everyone'skind of talking about it at this point,
not everybody is doing it yet.
What pieces of advice, words of wisdomwould you give to a company
(09:12):
that's starting to assessthat? In a cluttered landscape
I think you have to work incredibly hardto make sure
that you’re recognizedthat you're breaking through.
And everybody talks about,
well, I have to breakthrough creative and,you know, how do you do that?
And and that's our mission.
You know, to be exciting and, and do that.
And I think you can't leave anythingout of your quiver when you're doing that.
(09:34):
And I think it's an opportunitythat many people overlook as being able
to own it and recognize it or they do,which is wonderful,
a triggered moment in a,you know, a sonic logo or, or something.
But they don't necessarilygive their creative teams
and their branding teamsa full suite of things to work with.
And I think the abilityto have that full suite
(09:56):
and make the investmentin what we sound like, ask
a group of people what you sound like,and the conversation gets incredibly rich.
It's, you know, what do we look like?
You know what people do when it's like,
what do you look likewell we look like this.
And are people have their sleeves rolled upand their hands are in the dirt,
you know, and you can just picturewhat it smells like and, you know,
but then you say, what do we sound like?
(10:19):
And you think about drills
and hammers and you think about peoplelaughing or wiping their brow.
There's a sound to all of those things,right?
And it's what is amazing about the,you know, the,
the artistry that goes into producing,you know, movies we love and all of that.
Why leave that to like those,you know, those sorts of places, right?
(10:40):
You want to captivate the customerall the time in every way you can.
And then you get to this amazing placewhere it just infiltrates
not only what you dowhen put on the screen or what you do
when you put on a, you know, in the radio,you know, environment or audio
environment specifically, but then itstarts to infiltrate how you think about,
(11:01):
your brand within the context of eventsand experiential work and other things.
Don't sell it short.
What it can do to motivate teamsto really think
holistically and really questionwill it be relevant to our customer?
What does our customer sound likeand think like?
How do they want to participate?
That kind of energyis, worth every bit of effort
(11:24):
you put intoit will pay back in multiples for sure.
That was a great answer.
I loved that answer.
Well, I'm glad we have the shared passion.
And I've enjoyed every minute of it.
And hopefully you can tell that I am aI am a Sonic branding fan.
Well, Lisa,thank you so much for your time.
I've just loved digging intothis with you.
(11:46):
Thank you.
I hope you're enjoying the show.
Don't forget to subscribeon all the major podcast channels, share
with friends, follow and rate.
Spread the word because, well,more people should know about this stuff.
I know you know that now.
For any other inquiries you can find meon LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook.
You can also email me at Jeanna@DreamrProductions.com
(12:07):
Jeanna@DreamrProductions.com
All links will be provided in the shownotes.
Let's make this world of soundmore intriguing, more unique, and more
and more on brand.
Welcometo the Sound In Marketing podcast.
I'm your host, Jeanna Isham.
Owner and founder of Dreamr Productionsand Sound in Marketing Learning.
I create, consult and educate
brands and individualson the power of sound in marketing.
Looking to create branded soundor need a sound strategist?
Head on over to www.DreamrProductions.comand let's chat.
(00:25):
That's www.DreamrProductions.com.
Want to learn more about soundand marketing these days?
Go to www.SoundInMarketing.com.
There's courses and resources galore.
Now back to the show.
We pick up where we left off,talking with Lisa DiStefano,
Home Depot's current VP of Brand Marketingand Creative.
(00:46):
We've been discussing the success and long
reaching effect of HomeDepot signature song, The Orange Theme.
In part one, Lisa described howthey implemented sonic branding exercises
with this song at the centerto truly make it the sound of doing
as a sonic brander
I'm so glad you went throughsonic branding exercises
and put this into the foundation.
(01:07):
I'm so happy to hear thatbecause the thing is, like,
maybe this specific attributewon't last for forever,
but once you have that foundation,you can build off of it,
use a little bit of the oldand do some new
and just kind of babystep it into something else
as you evolve as a company,because you will.
You were just saying,like you had discount on orange paint.
(01:27):
And so that was just how it worked.
You were trying to save
and cut costs at the beginning,but now you're a larger company
and you can actually grow and thriveand do things.
So that's just so exciting to hear.
And I'm excited to to see how this evolves
and transitions and transposesinto other things.
Would you say that the sound would be moreof a brand awareness
(01:50):
and growth,or is it more in performance marketing?
At first I would have said, you know,
as we were growing the brand
and trying to maintain our positionin an environment,
the the branding element ofthat was the central focus.
But it is become synonymousand can be used anywhere.
(02:11):
It's an attention grabberin that in that performance
moment, it is in some ways clickbaitbecause it is.
You hear it and you're like, whatis Home Depot telling me now, right?
There's a trusted conversationcoming in this case.
And and I think it's also attractiveto our partners.
You know, that idea,even in the retail media space and people
(02:31):
wanting to invest in our platform with usand so many large companies like ours
have the opportunity and we are havingthis very strong brand experience,
this very strong set of brand attributesand and tools that they can use.
I think it becomes,you know, a deeper advantage
for us to have these unique propositions,sound being one of them.
(02:51):
And in the video and in thethe digital space, in the social space,
you know, sound off, sound on.
Right.
You need all of those attributesto be able to attract and
and be part of that storylineand every single piece of it.
I think people sometimes under estimatewhat it can do
and the power that it can do.
To your point on sonic branding,when you really start to dig in and
(03:13):
and think about the sensesand utilizing as many of them as possible
in the relationship that you buildwith your customer in terms of messaging,
you know,
this is just a sweet spot that I thinkpeople sometimes may not think about.
Deeply enough continuity,that ability to have a play in that space,
I think is super positive for usas an organization
(03:35):
and as a creative organization,to be thinking holistically.
It's a different playin a different angle.
What's the sound?
You know, the soundgoing to be for this particular moment,
leveraging that original spot.
So I would geek out with you all daylong on it.
I think once you get into it, you know,and you start to really think about
creative from this type of anglein a soundscape for your environment,
(03:58):
as if it were, you know, a,you know, longer form video.
Often those cases, right?
You think about it in that way, but in theshort form I think is pretty powerful.
There's a depth to an experienceyou have with the customer
(04:26):
when it's more all inclusiveand all in.
you watch somethingthat's one thing when you feel that be
if you're
if you're sound is strong enoughand it's turned up enough and you hear that
the whole vibration of itis energetic and powerful.
And that is a whole nother level of
(04:48):
just seeing someone do something,or hearing a voiceover on top of it.
But that, that is a unique thing.
And I think that's why, as yousaid, right,
there's the guitar riff,but there's that, that strong beat.
And then we can interjectthe sound of a drill
or something happening,and it feels right.
And it's visceral.I can feel this happening.
And that's a pretty magical thing for us.
(05:09):
It's certainly something we're not goingto, you know,
even if the world were to changeand we were to walk away from it,
I think we're the power of what we learnedthrough this experience.
Will will be part of us
and the way we think of our overall brand,brand standards and brand voice.
When you say brand voice, right, peoplethink about the way you write copy
and that, and I think our brand voices is
deeper than that, which is, very, very,very cool and exciting for a creative.
(05:31):
I think the word brand voiceis being reassessed because I agree,
people always thought that it was copy,but it's so much more than that.
Had drum lines work it.
We've had marching bands
work it, we've had our associateswork it on their own, social media.
It's a catchy, energetic thingthat people just love to play with.
So yes, we have some amazing workthat we've been gifted
(05:53):
by a lot of peoplethat have exactly that energy around them.
Lots of orange buckets upside downmake a lot of really great beats.
Do you have a favorite,
either an iteration that a
fan did or one that you actually usedin an official campaign?
The original is always my favorite.
What I think is interestingis the fact that people can recognize that
(06:16):
beat, even in work like 545,which was very much an ode
to our customers and the peoplethat are doers and that experience.
What kind of person would come here?
at 5:45 a.m.
well, there's Carly, a carpenterjust like her dad.
There's Juan.
(06:37):
He's building a house and a better life.
Kenton and Sadie are here because thecouple that grouts together stays together.
Mary is a drama teacher,and she'll do anything for her students,
even build sets before class.
LaMar needs a torch andclamps for welding.
School
Ed’s putting in a pool for a friend.
(06:59):
We all need an Ed.
That's who’s in our parking lot
at 5:45 AM
real customers made for doing.
At the Home Depot, everything we do.
for them.
and even in that light morning
(07:21):
tone of getting ready to get doingyou hear those pluck pluck
pluck like you knowand you get it and it's coming you know
and it's it's soft but it's there and it'sthat just getting ready to get going.
And so that whole idea that you can,you can play it like that
and have that experience
and then come back with that,you know, equity track, be heavy,
(07:42):
you know, handed and you're still thinkingabout doing in those different ways.
I love holiday, I'm big holidayfan overall.
And so that idea of taking it to that
celebration place that comes with,you know, preparing for,
holidays and, and lightstwinkling in the background and that,
(08:03):
you know, that kind of tonalityis another one of my favorites.
(The Orange Song playing)
(08:27):
(The Orange Song Playing)
The magic that can happen when you startwith an incredibly strong Sonic
branded sonic sound and branding,and then you apply it,
and then it's authentically there,even if it is more subtle.
(08:50):
And I love it when people recognize it.
Even in those cases,would there be any piece of advice
that you would give to another brandon what you've learned,
or your suggestions on moves towardssonic branding?
Because everyone'skind of talking about it at this point,
not everybody is doing it yet.
What pieces of advice, words of wisdomwould you give to a company
(09:12):
that's starting to assessthat? In a cluttered landscape
I think you have to work incredibly hardto make sure
that you’re recognizedthat you're breaking through.
And everybody talks about,
well, I have to breakthrough creative and,you know, how do you do that?
And and that's our mission.
You know, to be exciting and, and do that.
And I think you can't leave anythingout of your quiver when you're doing that.
(09:34):
And I think it's an opportunitythat many people overlook as being able
to own it and recognize it or they do,which is wonderful,
a triggered moment in a,you know, a sonic logo or, or something.
But they don't necessarilygive their creative teams
and their branding teamsa full suite of things to work with.
And I think the abilityto have that full suite
(09:56):
and make the investmentin what we sound like, ask
a group of people what you sound like,and the conversation gets incredibly rich.
It's, you know, what do we look like?
You know what people do when it's like,
what do you look likewell we look like this.
And are people have their sleeves rolled upand their hands are in the dirt,
you know, and you can just picturewhat it smells like and, you know,
but then you say, what do we sound like?
(10:19):
And you think about drills
and hammers and you think about peoplelaughing or wiping their brow.
There's a sound to all of those things,right?
And it's what is amazing about the,you know, the,
the artistry that goes into producing,you know, movies we love and all of that.
Why leave that to like those,you know, those sorts of places, right?
(10:40):
You want to captivate the customerall the time in every way you can.
And then you get to this amazing placewhere it just infiltrates
not only what you dowhen put on the screen or what you do
when you put on a, you know, in the radio,you know, environment or audio
environment specifically, but then itstarts to infiltrate how you think about,
(11:01):
your brand within the context of eventsand experiential work and other things.
Don't sell it short.
What it can do to motivate teamsto really think
holistically and really questionwill it be relevant to our customer?
What does our customer sound likeand think like?
How do they want to participate?
That kind of energyis, worth every bit of effort
(11:24):
you put intoit will pay back in multiples for sure.
That was a great answer.
I loved that answer.
Well, I'm glad we have the shared passion.
And I've enjoyed every minute of it.
And hopefully you can tell that I am aI am a Sonic branding fan.
Well, Lisa,thank you so much for your time.
I've just loved digging intothis with you.
(11:46):
Thank you.
I hope you're enjoying the show.
Don't forget to subscribeon all the major podcast channels, share
with friends, follow and rate.
Spread the word because, well,more people should know about this stuff.
I know you know that now.
For any other inquiries you can find meon LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook.
You can also email me at Jeanna@DreamrProductions.com
(12:07):
Jeanna@DreamrProductions.com
All links will be provided in the shownotes.
Let's make this world of soundmore intriguing, more unique, and more
and more on brand.
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