Clio Music 2024: Sonic Branding Wins for ESPN, General Mills & Corona
We have exciting news to share! For the second awards season in a row, Made Music Studio has been honored with three wins at Clio Music 2024, all in the category of Best of Use of Music in Sonic Branding.
We’re proud to have not one, but three projects in the list of honorees. Each collaboration required us to reach new creative heights, both exploring new brand worlds and bringing a sonic element to well-known products. With our longtime clients at ESPN, we reimagined the sound of their NBA programming for a modern audience, blending classic sports tropes with contemporary hiphop. With Corona, we created an ownable brand theme that instantly transports consumers across the globe to the beach. And with Totino’s Pizza Rolls, we added another collaboration to our partnership with General Mills, transforming snacktime into an epic multiverse of sound.
Keep reading to learn more about of each of our Clio Award-winning sonic branding projects.
“NBA on ESPN Signature Brand Theme,” NBA on ESPN – Best Use of Music in Sonic Branding (Bronze)
NBA on ESPN wanted an exciting new look, feel, and sound that captured modern basketball’s place in culture, from pre-season to playoffs.
“We needed a fresh signature theme for NBA on ESPN that was modern, memorable and complemented the sleek, primetime look of our new visuals,” says ESPN Coordinating Music Director Claude Mitchell. “We turned to our longtime collaborators at Made Music Studio, to bring a sound that spoke to the game and our fans.”
This was a return to our roots in scoring for entertainment, film, and television. Having developed the new sounds of TCM, HBO, and ESPN’s 30 for 30, we looked to pay homage to the bold brass of classic sports themes, while creating a record-credible track for a younger, more diverse audience. We sought inspiration from the music that today’s fans and players are listening to: contemporary hiphop. Bringing together an iconic hook with modern hiphop textures, we created a brand theme that’s already made its mark on the culture.
Heard across the network’s properties including NBA, WNBA, NBA Playoffs, and NBA Today, the new sound of NBA on ESPN has inspired fan-created raps and an on-air remix from hiphop superstars DJ Mustard and Ty Dolla $ign. “At the heart of our music you can hear the swagger of the players, the poetry and flow of the game, the intensity and drama of the fan experience,” said Mitchell. “It’s a sonic slam dunk that will elevate our NBA programming for years to come.”
“The Sound of Corona,” Corona (Global) – Best Use of Music in Sonic Branding (Shortlist)
Corona is one of the world’s most iconic brands. The effortless beach vibe, the flint bottle, the lime ritual, and the iconic visual logo all come together in perfect harmony. But until now, they never had an ownable brand sound. They needed a strategically crafted sonic identity that could unify the Corona experience through music, a sound that could appeal to consumers across the globe and instantly inspire them to find their beach.
Previously, Corona had licensed a track by Khruangbin for global campaigns. But despite years of use, the song had poor brand attribution and wasn’t excusive to the brand. Corona’s first-ever global brand theme, created by Made Music Studio, captures a feeling of relaxation. Designed to underscore every brand campaign, the theme is an emotional trigger that transports you there, culminating in the sonic logo’s two-chord ending.
To capture an authentic and natural sound, we assembled musicians from all over the world and recorded live in the studio. Live beach recordings give the production a bit of outdoor grit, and a beat-up guitar — the kind you’d play around a campfire — adds a feeling of authenticity to the mix. We paid homage to beach culture with an echo of surf rock and add a tropical feel with reverb-drenched guitars, congas, and bongos. The resulting sound captures the feeling of anticipation and release, like a wave crashing and receding on the shoreline — or a lime dropping into a cold bottle of Corona.
“Area 425,” Totino’s Pizza Rolls – Best Use of Music in Sonic Branding (Shortlist)
After partnering with Made Music Studio on sonic branding for Nature Valley and Yoplait, General Mills turned their attention to more of their snack brands, including Totino’s Pizza Rolls.
We teamed up with Totino’s to create the world’s first gamified sonic identity. Designed with Gen Z vibes in mind, “Area 425” is a sonic world filled with subliminal memes and audio easter eggs — strategically crafted to stretch across every sound-on platform, and instantly calls to mind the boldness and absurdity of the Totino’s brand.
The brand theme is built around the scale tones 4-2-5 — the perfect temperature for baking pizza rolls. Chirpy oven buttons make up the sonic logo, a memory trigger designed to make you think “To-Ti-No’s.” The retro-inspired “game sounds” are all new and ownable, and the subliminal messages are designed to encourage fan interaction across platforms including TikTok and other sound-on socials. With the musical flexibility to introduce new easter eggs, memes, and messages, Totino’s multi-award winning sonic branding is an epic, flavorful brand multiverse for the era of the screenager.
