What Testing a Sonic Logo Actually Tells You

Sonic logo testing plays your logo to real people, on its own, and scores how well it fits the brand, how much they like it and whether they can pick it out again later. When Pedigree's sonic logo was tested, it scored Excellent for brand fit in five markets, at close to 90%, and a US benchmark put it in the top 10% of more than 130 unfamiliar sonic logos.

Good numbers. Also the least useful thing a test gives you, if you read it properly.

A sonic logo test plays each logo to a separate panel of people in each market, so nobody's judgement of one sound is coloured by hearing another first.

Brand fit is measured against a personality profile the brand sets before anyone hears anything. That's the score worth arguing about.

Recall tests play the logo early in a survey and ask people to find it again at the end, in a line-up of other logos.

Test once the client has heard the demos and picked a route. Rough sketches test badly and tell you very little.

A test is one listen. Recognition comes from hearing the same sound in the same moment for years, and no panel can measure that in advance.

Pedigree's logo was tested by an independent audio research company. There are several that specialise in sound, and most work in a similar way. The details vary, but the shape is usually this.

Each logo goes to its own panel in each market. This is called monadic testing, and it matters more than it sounds: play someone two logos back to back and the second one gets judged against the first, not against the brand. Separate panels keep each score clean.

Listeners then rate what they heard. How much they like it, which traits they hear in it, and whether that holds across groups. For Pedigree, results could be split by dog owners and non-owners, age and gender.

Before testing, the brand describes its own personality, choosing from a list of traits. That profile becomes the benchmark. The test then measures how closely listeners hear those same traits in the sound, which gives you a brand fit score.

This is where most of the value sits, because it answers the question every stakeholder is really asking: does this sound like us?

Pedigree's logo is three notes that sing the name, Pe-Di-Gree, built on an upright piano with recorded dog sounds around it, collars and food pouring into a bowl, and a human whistle as the call to action. It's warm and simple because the brand is. Scoring Excellent for brand fit in five markets at close to 90% says that came through to people who'd never been in the room when it was written.

Appeal on its own is a weaker signal. People like things that sound pleasant. A logo can score well on likeability and be generic.

The recall test plays the logo early in the survey. At the end, listeners hear a line-up that includes it alongside other logos, and pick out the one they heard. The result is benchmarked against hundreds of logos tested before. For Pedigree, that benchmark was more than 130 unfamiliar sonic logos in the US, and it finished in the top 10%.

It's worth knowing how hard this is, even for famous sounds. In one 2020 index of audio logos, only 24% of US listeners correctly named the brand behind the Netflix sound. In the UK it was 34%. That's one of the best-known sonic logos in the world.

So recall on a first listen measures how distinctive the sound is. How well known it becomes is down to how often, and how consistently, it gets used.

We test after the client has heard the demos, given feedback and chosen a route. Testing earlier means testing sketches, and sketches score like sketches.

Testing is also optional. Some clients want the data for internal sign-off, especially in large organisations where a sonic logo has to get past people who weren't in the creative sessions. Some don't need it. When we do test, changes come after the results and before final sign-off, so the finished logo is the one that's been heard by real people.

It can't write the logo. A panel can tell you which of two options fits the brand better. It can't tell you what a better third option would have been.

It can't tell you how the sound will behave in a stadium, on a laptop speaker or under a voiceover. That's craft, and it's checked in context during production.

And it can't measure the thing that makes a sonic logo work, which is repetition. Every famous sonic logo was unfamiliar once. What made it famous was being played in the same moment, the same way, for years.

Read a test as evidence the sound is right for the brand and distinctive enough to stick. Then go and use it properly. You can see the full Pedigree work in the Pedigree case study.

What is sonic logo testing?

Research that plays a sonic logo to panels of real listeners and measures brand fit, appeal and recall, usually against benchmarks from logos tested before.

What is a brand fit score?

A measure of how closely listeners hear a brand's chosen personality traits in a sound. The brand sets the target profile before testing.

How long does sonic logo testing take?

Anywhere from a few days to a week or so, depending on the scope of the test. A single market is quicker than several, so it rarely holds up a launch.

Should every sonic logo be tested?

No. It's most useful where sign-off involves people outside the creative process, or where the logo will launch in several markets at once.

Can testing replace creative judgement?

No. It can tell you which finished option fits the brand better and how distinctive it is. It can't tell you what to write.

Want to know how your sound would score? Speak to the team and let's get in the studio.