The beauty industry isn’t using branded audio as effectively as it could be
Social media is sound-on. Yet, says Hannah Cahill of Amp (part of Landor Group), brands often overlook the audio – not least beauty brands.
iLL Wayno in the video for 'Eyes. Lips. Face.' which provided the soundtrack for e.l.f.'s successful campaign / iLL Wayno via Youtube
Self-expression and authenticity are core values of most modern beauty brands. Music, as a powerful and instantaneous tool for creative expression, can allow brands to emotionally connect with consumers and also showcase their individuality.
With more audible touchpoints than ever before, what does the beauty industry sound like? The latest edition of Amplify magazine, our sound branding magazine, explored the idea of ‘the sound of beauty’ – investigating how brands across the beauty industry use sound in this ever-expanding digital age.
Our findings revealed an inconsistent sonic landscape where most beauty brands blend into one another and fail to create memorable sonic identities, particularly across social media channels. In turn, this creates a wide-open space for brands ready to embrace sonic individuality in 2025. However, a few key success stories do showcase surefire paths to sonic success.
Unique sonic identity
Heritage sonic brands Gillette and Maybelline revived their iconic jingles last year, delighting Gen X. But, a full holistic sonic identity remains rare in this sector. Of the 50 top global brands we analyzed, only three had full sonic identities.
A standout in the category is LUX. Created by women for women, LUX’s innovative sonic identity emphasizes empowerment and resonates with a global audience through more than ten distinct and market-specific musical soundscapes.
While the vast majority of beauty brands rely almost entirely on stock music, we found that LUX used its own branded sonic identity in almost a quarter of all digital content. This dedication landed LUX in second place in our ranking of the top 50 best-selling beauty and personal care brands based on sonic performance, despite being launched only last year.
In a stock-music-filled industry, a unique sonic identity will always stand out. Ensuring that it’s authentic is the most immediate way to reflect a brand’s core values and build an emotional connection with consumers.
Sound-on socials
Our research found that despite over 90% of consumers regularly using social media, fewer than 30% follow their favorite brands on these platforms, showing a huge lack of consumer connection. This is a problem, as younger generations often consume branded content through social media instead of more traditional touchpoints. In these sound-on environments, standout sonic could be the key to connecting with your audience.
These platforms are all about building connections and retaining interest – something brands often fail to do when the majority use the same overplayed trending audios over already similar ‘get ready with me’ (GRWM) content.
Platforms like TikTok have so much potential for original branded sound. In 2019, e.l.f. Cosmetics launched its hugely successful ‘eyes, lips, face’ challenge on TikTok. The accompanying track, created by iLL Wayno and Holla FyeSixWun, was an instant hit, and it became the most successful viral TikTok campaign in US history. With nearly five million people using the song in content, the campaign is a lesson in the unparalleled reach of an authentic sonic identity.
This kind of success is rare, and can only be achieved when brands understand both their audience and their platform. And, then work with culturally relevant artists to create authentic, unique music that resonates. It’s not an easy path, but when it works, the reward is the gold standard of social media sonic marketing – user-generated, branded engagement.
Added spice
Old Spice is a sonic branding trailblazer with one of the oldest and best-known sonic logos in the industry – and the brand is not afraid to use it. The male grooming brand ranked first in our ranking thanks to the fact it used its sonic logo in 88% of all digital content, its witty and culturally relevant custom music, and consistency across digital channels.
Such dedication to original sound is very rare in the industry, particularly on social media platforms where trending audio is king. Most brands don’t bother adding their sonic logo to social content, so it often doesn’t get heard by younger generations.
But for those brands that do bother and use it often, branded audio can become part of the culture, which does wonders for brand equity. Gen Z, who love remixing sounds on socials, turned Old Spice’s sonic logo into a TikTok sonic meme a few years ago.
Apart from the honor of becoming a cultural phenomenon, our research found this also resulted in almost twice the brand recall of similar brands whose sonic logo had not gone viral.
Today, it’s not enough for brands to only focus on large campaigns – social media has become the go-to place for younger generations looking for brands they can connect with. A successful sonic strategy is one in which each unique platform is understood – and in which a well-crafted sonic identity leads to assets for any occasion, from a large TV campaign to the meme-fueled world of TikTok trends.
