Aldi has topped a ranking of UK supermarkets for their use of sound at customer touchpoints and marketing, by sonic branding agency Amp.
Morrisons and Asda were ranked second and third for their use of owned music and sounds and sonic logos, followed by Lidl and M&S Food.
However, UK supermarkets performed poorly versus global rivals, with only Aldi appearing in the top third of the table of 100 supermarkets around the world that were assessed.
“The UK supermarket sector has a striking paradox at its heart,” said Björn Thorleifsson, director, research & insights at Amp told The Grocer. “It is home to the oldest sonic logo in the entire global grocery industry – Asda’s, at approximately 49 years old – yet UK supermarkets consistently rank among the weakest performers in sonic branding worldwide.”
The explanation, Thorleifsson said, was chiefly cultural. Jingles fell out of fashion in the UK’s “trend-conscious market” in the early 2000s and are considered “naff, outdated and increasingly at odds with the more cinematic advertising UK brands were producing”.
“The problem is they threw out the strategic asset along with the dated format,” Thorleifsson said. “Owning a distinctive sound and expressing it through a jingle are two very different things, but in the rush to modernise, that distinction was largely lost.”
UK supermarkets have leaned more on licensed music – particularly around Christmas advertising season – but Thorleifsson explained: “These create powerful emotional moments, but the emotion belongs to the song, not the brand.”
The analysis of 100 supermarket brands across six continents found generic stock music was used in 63% of all content they put out, and stock music was used more frequently than any other type. Nearly three quarters of supermarkets used custom-made music, but only in 7% of content on average.
Thirty-one of the supermarkets analysed had their own sonic logo. Despite its high ranking, Aldi UK used its sonic logo – a seven-note jingle deemed among the most memorable of UK retailers in a separate 2022 index by SoundOut – among the “least consistently”.
Mexican supermarket Chedraui topped Amp’s global ranking overall, its more than 25-year-old sonic logo appearing in 78% of content, with owned music appearing in 45%.
Woolworths New Zealand ranked second, followed by Líder. All of the top 10 brands have sonic logos and nine use owned music.
“As audible touchpoints continue to grow, brands now have more opportunities than ever to show up sonically in a meaningful way,” Thorleifsson said. “Apps and self-service checkouts are a great example of this, offering natural moments where a simple branded sound can do a lot of heavy lifting, building recognition and reinforcing identity without a big campaign budget behind it.
“The brands that spot this opportunity early and start joining the dots between these touchpoints will be the ones that pull ahead,” he added.
The UK supermarket top 10 in Amp’s ranking is:
1. Aldi – 32nd globally
2. Morrisons – 35th
3. Asda – 37th
4. Lidl - 45th
5. M&S Food – 54th
6. Tesco – 58th
7. Sainsbury’s – 68th
8. Ocado.com – 76th
9. Waitrose – 78th
10. Co-op – 86th
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