Mastercard incorporates sound as new dimension to customer experience: Beatrice Cornacchia

‘We worked with musicians to produce distinct melody adaptable across genres, cultures,' says senior VP for marketing, communications in Middle East, Africa

Mastercard has recently announced the release of its sonic brand identity, a comprehensive sound architecture. Daily News Egypt interviewed Beatrice Cornacchia, the senior vice president of marketing and communications in the Middle East and Africa at Mastercard, to find out the company's aim from the new sonic brand.
What is the new feature that Mastercard is announcing?
We are debuting our sonic brand identity, which is a comprehensive sound architecture that will reinforce our brand each time a consumer interacts with Mastercard. This new dimension to our brand identity is a critical component to how people recognise Mastercard today, and in the future.
What does your sonic brand consist of? How did you develop it?
As a global company which operates in over 200 countries, it is important for us to take a very deep and holistic approach to ensure local relevance while maintaining a consistent global brand voice.
We worked with musicians to produce a distinct melody that is adaptable across genres and cultures, and takes into account different platforms and environments. The result is that we now have a memorable melody that accentuates our attributes. In addition, we worked with artists and agencies around the world using varying instruments and tempos to help deliver the melody in several unique styles such as operatic, cinematic, and playful, and will also include a number of regional interpretations.
This Mastercard melody is the foundation of our sound architecture, and it will be extended to many of our components, from sound logos and ringtones, to on-hold music and point-of-sale acceptance sounds.
Does the melody stand for something? What are you hoping to deliver?
In creating the Mastercard melody, we included five principles that reflect the attributes of the Mastercard brand, which are: being relatable and inclusive, passionate, surprising, delightful, and captivating. At the end of the day, we want you leaving humming the Mastercard melody.
Why are you making this change now?
The world around us is transforming at an incredible pace, affecting how consumers engage with everything around them, and that includes brands.
The latest example is the presence of audio in our lives – hundreds of millions of people are already using smart speakers, and voice shopping alone is set to hit $40bn by 2022.
Sound is a powerful new dimension to our brand identity, and a critical component to how people recognise Mastercard.
What makes sound so important?
Music has always been an important part of marketing. Today, with more consumer touch points than ever before, consumer expectations of brands continue to evolve as the lines between the physical and the digital blur, and the existence of ad blocks and voice-technologies (rise of podcasts, smart speakers, and voice shopping) continues to change the day-to-day way we live, shop, and pay. The traditional ways of advertising and marketing need to evolve, making companies transform the way they show up and interact with consumers.
What kind of testing or feedback have you gotten so far?
The feedback so far has been very positive. We are in this for the long haul, and will be taking along the way learning experiences to fulfil our ultimate vision of creating a highly personalised and contextually relevant Mastercard audio experience for consumers, wherever and however they interact with Mastercard.