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Article location:http://www.fastcompany.com/article/the-most-addictive-sounds-in-the-world-
advertising-neuromarketing
February 22, 2010
Tags: Technology, Design, Innovation, Buyology

The 10 Most Addictive Sounds in the World

By Martin Lindstrom

You're probably among the millions who have experienced it: driving in a car, listening to the radio,
and suddenly this song comes on. It is not just any song--this was your favorite song when you
were a teenager. As the first few notes strike up, you're transported back in time. Everything is so
vivid, and your mind wanders to parties, first kisses and sweaty palms. It's as if time stands still and
you suddenly realize that for the entire duration of the song, you haven't seen a single thing on the
road.

There's no doubt about it, sound is immensely powerful. And yet 83% of all the advertising
communication we're exposed to daily (bearing in mind that we will see two million TV
commercials in a single lifetime) focuses, almost exclusively, on the sense of sight. That leaves just
17% for the remaining four senses. Think about how much we rely on sound. It confirms a
connection when dialing or texting on cell phones and alerts us to emergencies. When the sound
was removed from slot machines in Las Vegas, revenue fell by 24%. Experiments undertaken in
restaurants show that when slow music (slower than the rhythm of a heartbeat) is played, we eat
slower--and we eat more!

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Is this just coincidence, or does sound make us buy more, want more, dream more and eat more?
Any 50-year-old American can sing a whole range of television jingles from the 1970s--they are all
well stored in the recesses of our brain. Yet if you were to ask the same of those who have come of
age recently, you will find them stumped. Has the magic of a television tune disappeared, or has the
advertising world lost sight of the fact that people do indeed have speakers at home? I decided to
put these questions to the test.

Buyology Inc. and Elias Arts, a sound identity company in New York, wired up 50 volunteers and
measured their galvanic, pupil and brainwave responses to sounds using the latest
neuroscience-based research methods. We learned that sound has remarkable power. This may not
be surprising for many, but it was certainly surprising to realize just how many commercial brands
over the past 20 years have made their way into the world's 10 most powerful and addictive
sounds--beating some of the most familiar and comforting sounds of nature.

Quiz: Can You Guess The World's Most Addictive Sounds?

[1]

Forget the sound of the waves or the songs of birds, they didn't even make the top 10. But the jingle
advertising a computer chip, and object which most of us have never even seen, took the prominent
second spot in our brains in terms of addiction. We strongly respond to the sound of Intel! This tells
us that repetition is the key, since most of us can't even sing it. What this tells us is that there's no
limit to this phenomenon, because a computer chip doesn't really have a sound.

The third most powerful sound is just over 10 years old, and yet it had such a profound effect on
our volunteers that as soon as they hear it, they remove their headsets and check their bags for their
vibrating cell phone. When we switch our phone into silent mode, we think it cannot be heard. But
the vibration has its own sound, and almost immediately the test subjects stopped whatever they
were doing to attend to their phones. It's hardly surprising that the Blackberry has been dubbed a
CrackBerry--even President Obama is hooked.

Psychologically speaking, this is not a happy discovery. Recent studies show that the first thing we
do when we wake is check our BlackBerry. Going to the bathroom, brushing our teeth and eating
breakfast takes a back seat. Increasingly people sleep beside their phones--that message that arrives
at 4.00am, is now a priority! Even though the sound of a vibrating phone has taken second place to
a baby's giggles, it seems that in just over a decade technology now provides the predominant
sounds of daily life.

As marketers become more aware of the power of sound, it will be used to increase brand
recognition in increasingly sophisticated ways. It's just a matter of time before our brains hear
sizzling steaks, newly lit cigarettes and sparkling sodas, and immediately register them as Outback,
Marlboro and Dr. Pepper.

THE MOST ADDICTIVE SOUNDS IN THE WORLD

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Non-branded and branded sounds:

1. Baby giggle [2]
2. Intel [3]
3. Vibrating phone [4]
4. ATM / cash register [5]
5. National Geographic [6]
6. MTV [7]
7. T-Mobile [8] Ringtone
8. McDonald's [9]
9. 'Star Spangled Banner' [10]
10. State Farm [11]

Top 10 Branded sounds:

1. Intel [12]
2. National Geographic [13]
3. MTV [14]
4. T-Mobile [15]
5. McDonald's [16]
7. State Farm [17]
8. AT&T Ringtone [18]
9. Home Depot [19]
10 Palm Treo [20] Ringtone

Top 10 Non-branded sounds:

1. Baby giggle [21]
2. Vibrating phone [22]
3. ATM / cash register [23]
4. "Star Spangled Banner" [24]
5. Sizzling steak [25]
6. 'Hail to the Chief [26]'
7. Cigarette light and inhale [27]
8. "Wedding March" [28]
9. "Wish Upon a Star" [29]
10. Late Night with David Letterman [30] Theme

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MARTIN LINDSTROM is a 2009 recipient of TIME Magazine's "World's 100 Most

Influential People [31]" and author of Buyology--Truth and Lies About Why We Buy [32] (Doubleday, New York), which
appeared on both The New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller lists. Lindstrom is an adviser to executives of
McDonald's Corporation, Procter & Gamble, Nestlé, PepsiCo, Microsoft Corporation, The Walt Disney Company, and
GlaxoSmithKline, amongst others. His personal global audience is estimated at over a million people. His book, Brand
Sense, was hailed by the Wall Street Journal as "...one of the five best marketing books ever published." Lindstrom's latest
books, Buyology and Brand Sense have been translated into more than 40 languages, and are now out in paperback.

Links:
[1] http://www.fastcompany.com/article/can-you-guess-the-worlds-most-addictive-sounds
[2] http://www.martinlindstrom.com/sounds/BabyGiggle.wav
[3] http://images.fastcompany.com/mp3/top10brandedsounds/Intel_Logo.mp3
[4] http://www.martinlindstrom.com/sounds/PhoneVibrate.wav
[5] http://www.martinlindstrom.com/sounds/ATM.wav
[6] http://images.fastcompany.com/mp3/top10brandedsounds/NationalGeographic.mp3
[7] http://images.fastcompany.com/mp3/top10brandedsounds/MTV_Logo.mp3
[8] http://images.fastcompany.com/mp3/top10brandedsounds/TMobile_Ringtone.mp3
[9] http://images.fastcompany.com/mp3/top10brandedsounds/McDonalds_Logo.mp3
[10] http://www.martinlindstrom.com/sounds/StarSpangledBanner.wav
[11] http://images.fastcompany.com/mp3/top10brandedsounds/State_Farm.mp3
[12] http://images.fastcompany.com/mp3/top10brandedsounds/Intel_Logo.mp3
[13] http://images.fastcompany.com/mp3/top10brandedsounds/NationalGeographic.mp3
[14] http://images.fastcompany.com/mp3/top10brandedsounds/MTV_Logo.mp3
[15] http://images.fastcompany.com/mp3/top10brandedsounds/TMobile_Ringtone.mp3
[16] http://images.fastcompany.com/mp3/top10brandedsounds/McDonalds_Logo.mp3
[17] http://images.fastcompany.com/mp3/top10brandedsounds/State_Farm.mp3
[18] http://images.fastcompany.com/mp3/top10brandedsounds/ATT_Ringtone.mp3
[19] http://images.fastcompany.com/mp3/top10brandedsounds/HomeDepot.mp3
[20] http://images.fastcompany.com/mp3/top10brandedsounds/Treo_Ringtone.mp3
[21] http://www.martinlindstrom.com/sounds/BabyGiggle.wav
[22] http://www.martinlindstrom.com/sounds/PhoneVibrate.wav

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[23] http://www.martinlindstrom.com/sounds/ATM.wav
[24] http://www.martinlindstrom.com/sounds/StarSpangledBanner.wav
[25] http://www.martinlindstrom.com/sounds/SteakSizzle.wav
[26] http://www.martinlindstrom.com/sounds/HailToTheChief.wav
[27] http://www.martinlindstrom.com/sounds/CigaretteLightandInhale.wav
[28] http://www.martinlindstrom.com/sounds/WeddingMarch.wav
[29] http://www.martinlindstrom.com/sounds/WishUponAStar.wav
[30] http://www.martinlindstrom.com/sounds/DavidLettermanjingle.wav
[31] http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article
/0,28804,1894410_1893209_1893463,00.html
[32] http://www.martinlindstrom.com/index.php/cmsid__buyology_chapters

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