Every company knows what a poorly designed logo or a campaign that doesn’t convert costs. But few CEOs and CMOs can answer this: how much is your brand’s sound worth? And more importantly, how much is it costing you not to have one?

Sound Marketing has moved beyond being a creative “extra” to become a line item with measurable return. We gathered the data that global and Brazilian markets have already produced on the subject. The answer is straightforward: sound is worth it, and ignoring it is expensive.

The brain processes sound before it processes images

Before talking about money, it’s worth understanding why sound works so well in Branding. According to neuromarketing research cited by agency MusicGrid,

At touchpoints like an app, a store, or a call center, a brand’s sound reaches the consumer’s brain before any visual element is consciously processed. This speed advantage translates into recall.

A study published in the Journal of Consumer Psychology, cited by agency LAJE, showed that brands with a consistent sonic identity generate up to 96% more spontaneous recall than brands that rely solely on visual elements.

What Kantar and Ipsos found

Two of the world’s largest media and brand consultancies have already quantified this advantage. Kantar found that advertising assets with sound deliver 76% more brand power and 138% more advertising power compared to assets without strategic audio. Ipsos concluded that audio assets are 3.44 times more effective than visual assets in producing high-performance ads, and that sonic stimuli capture up to 8.5 times more attention.

Data compiled by Rebellion Group further shows that brands with a distinctive sonic identity are not only more memorable (+96%), they are 86% more likely to be purchased.

Radio, podcasts, and purchase intent

A joint study by Veritonic and Audacy, analyzing 113 radio and podcast ads, delivered concrete numbers: podcast ads with sonic branding saw a 14% increase in ad recall, resulting in a 2% rise in purchase intent.

For radio ads, the gains were even greater: 17% more recall and 6% more purchase intent. The same study found that 77% of consumers recognize a brand more easily when it has a distinct sound.

For those working with paid media, this has a direct impact on CAC: campaigns that are already remembered require less repetition to convert, making the same budget go further.

What about the Brazilian market?

Sound branding is not a distant trend: it is already a mature market in Brazil, with specialized agencies active for nearly two decades, among them Zanna Sound itself, a pioneer in the country. Banks like Banco do Brasil and Itaú, and brands like Oi, have already built their own sonic assets.

The Soundtrends 2025 study by Soundthinkers indicates that Brazilian brands investing in sonic identity increase their perceived company value by up to 5% and boost advertising campaign performance by up to 138%.

The same survey shows that over 39 million Brazilians consume podcasts regularly, reinforcing audio as a strategic channel, not a supporting player.

Another relevant data point for those thinking about digital touchpoints: according to Statista, cited by agency LAJE, Brazil is already the fifth-largest global market for smart speakers and voice assistant devices, with over 24 million active units. Each of these devices is a touchpoint where a brand exists only if it has a sound, not a logo, not a color, but a sound.

The name changes, the business stays the same

The market uses several terms almost interchangeably, and it’s worth knowing them so you don’t get lost in briefings and searches.

• Sound Branding is the most widely used term in professional circles;
• Sound Marketing is the more commercial translation;
• Sonic Identity or brand sound is what the final result is typically called;
• Audio Branding appears more frequently in academic publications;
• Music Branding focuses specifically on soundtrack and music curation for retail environments;
• and Sound Logo is the short signature, 1 to 3 seconds long, that functions as the brand’s “audio logo.”

Regardless of the term used in research, the business behind it is the same: transforming sound into a strategic, measurable, and proprietary asset, something no competitor can copy.

So, how much is a brand sound worth?

Putting the numbers together: a brand with a consistent sonic identity can be remembered up to 96% more, be up to 86% more likely to be purchased, generate up to 138% more advertising power, and increase perceived company value by up to 5%.

On the other side of the equation is the invisible cost of not investing: media budget wasted on less memorable ads, lower differentiation in environments saturated with visual stimuli, and a brand that simply doesn’t exist on audio-only channels, voice assistants, podcasts, radio, phone support.

For those leading marketing, branding, communications, or advertising, the question is no longer “is it worth investing in sound?” but rather “how much are we leaving on the table by not having invested yet?”

If you want to understand how to apply this data to your company’s strategy, get in touch and discover what sound can do for your business.