Sounds of Brands

Lennart Fleschhut

Sound Branding 2015

Creative ExecutionsSounds Associated with a Brand

Lennart Fleschhut2015

Creative Executions

1. Out-crafting them all with Nick OffermanWho else fits better into the category of craftsmanship?

INTRODUCTION Carhartt, Inc. was founded in 1889 by Hamilton Carhartt in Detroit, Michigan. The companies headquarters are still located in Detroit, fostering their strong connection to their origin. Throughout the United States, Carhartt is known for their durable and long-lasting workwear, including jackets, pants, overalls, west, shirts, headwear etc.

Through their long-lasting evolvement in the working class field, the brand and their products are strongly connected to the sonic environment of construction sites. Their latest campaign called Force®, emphasizes this connection. The campaign, which to the current point includes four videos, features specific sounds, e.g. hammer pounding steel and heavy machinery, taken from a soundscape* that is well-known to the intended audience.

The next step in Carhartt’s pursuit to connect sounds specifically to their products and brands is owning the soundscape of craftsmanship. Through a video series called Road Home to Craftsmanship, started in 2014, Carhartt started this pursuit. So far the success for this project, based on the number of views, is negligible. Highest number of actual content video views: 1,944. The art of craftsmanship not only inherits a set of sounds, but also delivers cultural meaning that is strongly connected to Carhartt’s culture; put your heart into your work, fellowship & community, respect the material, work from dusk till dawn and don’t stop until something is perfect.

This fresh approach should differentiate itself from Carhartt’s other projects. In contrast to the current Force® campaign, which has serious tone to it, this approach should add a humorous facette to the overall Carhartt brand voice.

*soundscape: the sounds of the environment as a great macro-cultural composition, of which men and nature are the composer/performers

The Road Home to Craftsmanship: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLs7nOxw3zsx6LpcHL33aKAlaxWPhlRvQR

Force®: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLs7nOxw3zsx4gFXVXBo9cEdF8vV0pB_Ah

Problem previous attempt to add humorous tone to brand voice unsuccessful

low respondance on Social Media Channels

PROBLEM

low respondance onSocial Media Channels

The engagement of people with Carhartt’s Social Media Channels is very low. This makes it hard to push the connection of Carhartt and craftsmanship. The content is visible but not appealing to the audience.This is partly because the Social Media Channels are not fully coherent, pushing similar content. To force this sonic connection, people need to see and engage with the content.

previous attempt to add humorous tone to brand voice unsuccessful

PROBLEM

By introducing the character “Chet Grogan” in one of their Youtube series, Carhartt attempted to add a humorous side to their brand voice. An older attempt, a video series called Product Talk, had the same goal. In this series, they used a character called “Hank the foreman”, who was cut out after a few episodes.Both attempts had low response rate.

Views: 2,191

Views: 2,907

Problem previous attempt to add humorous tone to brand voice unsuccessful

low respondance on Social Media Channels

Objective successfully add humorous tone to brand voice

strengthen connection of Carhartt to craftsmanship sounds

OBJECTIVE

working class/construction sites

crafting soundscape:sawing, pulling cords, sharpening,grinding, wood creaking,hammer on metal, welding,cutting, carving, nails rattling

Culture spokespeople, working together with celebrities creates higher level of engagement

people become digitally fatigue

spokespeople/working together with celebrities creates higher level of engagement

CULTURE

Views: 58,566

Within their Force® campaign, Carhartt teamed up with San Francisco Giants pitcher Madison Bumgarner. He grew up in a middle-class family, sharing the values that Carhartt delivers.

“Can’t imagine having soft, sissy hands.”M. Bumgarner

The video including him has 10x more views than any other video on Carhartt’s Youtube Channel.

people become digitally fatigue

More and more people are becoming fatigue from a constant digital experience. People develop a desire for unplugged activities.According to Fjord 2015 Trend Report, “people tend to feel overwhelmed, distracted and stressed as a result of being continuously online and want to turn off.”

CULTURE

http://www.accenture.com/SiteCollectionDocuments/us-en/accenture-fjord-trends-2015.pdf

IDEA Out-crafting them all with Nick Offerman

Nick Offerman is most famous for his role as Ron Swanson in the TV-Show Parks and Recreation. Beyond this role, he represents a character that stands in for American values, hard work and most importantly craftsmanship.One could see him as the personification of everything that Carhartt stands for. Nick Offerman is a comedian, basing his concept on the idea of being overly American in his Stand-Up show American Ham, released in 2014.

IDEA

How it works

Country-wide workshops with Nick Offerman

Together with a team, Nick Offerman will tour the United States with a program called “Out-crafting them all with Nick Offerman”. People can purchase tickets to tour dates and participate in a workshop session, crafting different kinds of objects. The name of the project is based on the Force® campaign’s slogan “Out-work them all”.By doing so, we add a new facet to the overall brand voice, but keep the brand and it’s campaigns coherent. The tone of a brand voice is part of their sonic environment and just as important as specific sounds.

Content The new campaign will be covered across variousSocial Media Channels, including Youtube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and for the first time: Periscope.

Content Different channels will be used differently at a various times before, during, and after the tour.

before

before tour announcement:short clips to tease an upcoming event, not mentioning any details

after tour announcement:clips of Nick preparing for the tour in his workshop,focus on sound

before tour announcement:tease an event: e.g.:Nick Offerman spotted in the Carhartt HQ, what could that mean?

after tour announcement:referencing Nick’s preparations, referring/linking to Instagram posts

before tour announcement:livestreaming “spotting” of Nick Offerman in the Carhartt HQ

after tour announcement:livestreaming Nick’s preparation sessions

Periscope is a mobile App, which enables the user to livestream anything he wants. Users can join any livestream and comment, as well as like, parallel to the livestream

before tour announcement:

after tour announcement:weekly Check-in from Nick presenting things he created during the week and his thoughts on the tour

Content

during

Different channels will be used differently at a various times before, during, and after the tour.

during Tour:pictures & videos pre-and post workshops

participants are called upon to contribute content

videos & pictures from being on-the-road,“tour-diary”

during Tour:live-updates before, during and after the workshops

participants are called upon to contribute content

during Tour:livestream parts of the workshops, focus on sounds

participants are called upon to live-share their experience

during Tour:individual event for every tour date

more formal updates, such as event starting time, updates on ticket availability

repost Youtube content

during Tour:prompt recap videos after every event, using material Carhartt team shot, as well as including user provided content

Content

after

Different channels will be used differently at a various times before, during, and after the tour.

after Touruse content created during the tour

call upon participants to share their favorite moments

after Tourcall upon participants to share their favorite moments on Instagram

after Tourrepost Youtube videos

repost Instagram content

reflect on tour experience

after Tourrecap video

unpublished behind the scenes, not-yet-used content video

follow-up video with Nick Offerman

Benefits Nick Offerman

Cross-channel

Live-event

Nick Offerman

BENEFITS

Choosing Nick Offerman as a spokesperson brings along a number of benefits. As mentioned, he is well-known through his role in the TV-Show Parks and Recreation. More importantly is his role he plays in this show. His character Ron Swanson is a craftsperson and a big supporter of creating things with your own hands. He carries on this part of his role outside the TV-Show. In fact, he has his own woodshop company called Offerman Woodshop.

Nick Offerman is also a successful Comedian, having his own stand-up show called American Ham.

This combination makes him the perfect fit to connect a broad audience to Carhartt, the connection of Carhartt and craftsmanship, and on top of that, add the desired humorous facet to the brand voice.

Cross-Channel

BENEFITS

Promoting, documenting and engaging the audience through multiple channels benefits both aspired objectives.It also boosts Carhartt overall Social Media channels.By using several Channels, Instagram, Periscope, Facebook and Youtube that feature sound, Carhartts get the chance to really emphasize the sonic aspect of this campaign. Sounds within the art of craftsmanship will be highlighted subliminally and will consecutively be closer associated with the brand.

Through creating interesting and entertaining content, this connection will organically grow in the viewer’s/listener’s mind. Meaning we don’t force it with a direct approach, but we force the connection to perseverance and repetition.

Live-Event

BENEFITS

The idea of a live-event is in so far beneficial, as on-hand experiences are memorable than watching created content. A personal experience grows in importance over time. According to a recent article in The Atlantic, anticipation creates happiness and excitement, which in this case, causes the viewer to look into craftsmanship and do anything they can to inform themselves. At this case they have already been charged with the idea that the upcoming event is connected to Carhartt.The positive experience will stay in the visitor’s head with close ties to Craftsmanship in connection with Carhartt.

As the tickets to those workshops are limited, we extend our reach visually and sonically through live-streaming on Periscope, giving more people the chance to get an insight into this experience.http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/10/buy-experiences/381132/

Whats next? As a next step, we will send Nick Offerman on a world-tour, exploring abstract design crafts and the art of craftsmanship in different cultures.

The resulting content will ultimately anchor the soundscape of craftsmanship with Carhartt.

Creative Executions

2. All by hand, all in the USCarhartt X Monomea collaboration, bringing together two brands, seemingly poles apart, yet so close.

Monome is a manufacturer of interface devices for computers. Their products are produced in Upstate New York with the help of local suppliers and manufacturers. On their website they state that they believe in beautiful design and quality craftsmanship. They are supported by a strong community, based on the concept of sharing and enthusiasm for creating.These are values they share with Carhartt.

So how does that collaboration look like? Using the community of Monome, Carhartt will start a musical challenge. To push the goal of connecting the brand to sounds of the field of crafting, on-the road, farming and community, we will create a database of sounds from those soundscapes. A weekly assignment will challenge participating artists to create unique songs and musical pieces of art from an assorted fraction of the collected sounds. Every artists is welcome to experiment with the pieces as much as possible. Songs will be gathered on a newly created Carhartt Profile on Soundcloud.To ensure on-going participating, a point system, based on social-media feedback will create a ranking among participating artists. Short-term prices, as well as long-term prices will serve the same goal. Prices will come both from Carhartt and Monome.

Through this collaboration, Carhartt creates a unique opportunity to inherit specific sounds and simultaneously dive into a new community sharing certain values.

http://monome.org/devices/

Creative Executions

PROOF1. Connection to subcultural music scene

Since the 1990’s, Carhartt has been closely connected to the scene Hip-Hop scene. Their collaboration with Danny Brown shows that they are willing to work together with experimental artists. Despite that, they attempted to enter the electronical music scene before, by collaborating with Vestax, manufacturer of electronic equipment.2. Openness to work with company

that shares their valuesTheir collaboration with Chrysler, car manufacturer, emphasized their interest in connecting with a brand that doesn’t necessarily seem to be a perfect fit at first glance. Despite being from Detroit too, Chrysler inherits similar values as Carhartt. The idea of community, hard work and producing in the United States is what creates the bridge from Monome to Carhartt.

3. It relates and builds upon the Road to Craftsmanship Campaign

Through the video series called Road Home to Craftsmanship, Carhartt shows that they are attempting to own sounds related to craftsmanship.To take a step further from just filming creators and turning it into video content, this interactive concept strengthens the connection of crafting sounds and Carhartt.

Creative Executions

3. Carhartt goes Podcast

from going back to what made this country what it is, hard work, we take another step back to the earliest form of entertainment

Let’s take a few step backs to an early form of entertainment and communication, the radio. At first glance, one might consider the radio as outdated, and as an advertising tool it is most definitely for many companies. This is not the spot to look at for new start-ups, but this is Carhartt.

Radio, in form of Podcasts has risen immensely in popularity over the last year. Shows, such as This American Life and Serial, have millions of listeners simmering every week towards a new episode. Why a Podcast for Carhartt? Carhartt represents the American working-class, the backbone of this country. Work that needs to get done, nothing fancy, no garnishments. So are Podcasts and Radio, they are pure and linear. Carhartt is represented in an immense spectrum of work, which offers an unlimited variety of areas to explore for content. Episodes will range from interviews, both with people like you and me and also celebrities like Madison Bumgarner, that share the company’s values, to features of working fields. The episodes will subtly incorporate sounds from the different working areas to make those explicit to the brand. Commercial breaks will highlight products, focusing on their specific sounds. (e.g. a commercial featuring the heavy sound of a Carhartt Jacket)

Conclusively this is not an approach to bandwagon an uprising medium, but using this specific medium because it strongly relates to what Carhartt stands for.

Creative Executions

PROOF1. Carhartt is linear and emphasizes the idea of perseverance

Through their collaboration with Chrysler on their comeback, Carhartt emphasized their focus on perseverance and that American companies and values are there to last.

2. A concept that hasn’t been explored by a company in this field

Carhartt’s competitors, Dickie and Helly Hansen, collaborated in similar ways with musicians and other companies. They also have endorsements with teams and spokespeople.Podcasts is a medium that hasn’t been explored by a workwear related brand and yet offers many possibilities to develop the brand sonically.

3. It relates and builds upon several of their campaigns

A Carhartt Podcast offers a chance to support all of their ongoing campaigns, as well as online video-series. All of these have high sonic potential and Podcasts will be a new outlet to explore this potential.

THANKYOU

Lennart Fleschhut

Sound Branding 2015