AUDIO IDENTITY
Helios - Audio Identity
2022
Audio Identity, Audio Logo, Strategy, Brand Music, Music Library
Healthcare
The Helios Kliniken Group is one of Europe’s leading private hospitals operators. In Germany, Helios operates around 90 hospitals and employs 75.000 people. Every Year around 5.5 million people receive treatment from Helios.
Their hospitals and centers are renowned for the premium quality of their medical care, professional staff, and modern prevention services. Helios brings the healthcare industry forward and thanks to their investments in people, processes and technologies they are able to provide the best medical care available.
Helios wanted to strengthen its brand identity and market positioning through a consistent and recognizable audio identity that highlighted its core brand qualities and supported its long-term marketing objectives.
The sound needed to communicate the premium quality and professionalism for which Helios is known, give a feeling of security and trust while sounding modern and progressive.
Honest and transparent communication is very important to Helios and the new audio identity needed to reflect that. Life in hospitals, both as a patient or employee, isn’t all rosy and the brand didn’t want to communicate only one side of it by sounding overtly optimistic and emotional. We wanted to convey to the patients that they are in the hands of experts and will receive the best medical care available, while also sounding human and approachable.
In our first workshop, we defined the project’s goals, and the sound and guidelines requirements. Based on Helios’ core attributes, values and content marketing strategy we decided to create an Audio Logo, Brand Music, a library of 5 tracks, and develop a clear audio identity with simple but advanced guidelines to unify the usage of music across all their hospitals and channels nationwide.
We then started developing the brand’s new audio identity following the Audioframework process.
We created the Sonic Mosaic, an acoustic mood board to establish a first framework for the new sound of Helios.
From here, we developed a series of concepts for the audio logo and brand music. Ultimately, two final concepts were chosen, one for the brand music and one for the audio logo, both of which would also provide the foundation for the production of the brand music library.
AUDIO LOGO
Helios wanted a clear melody line that conveyed a feeling of trust and quality. For this reason, we opted for a grand piano with modern sound processing. To emphasize a sense of trust and closeness, we used a warm synth bass, working as base. For a modern touch, we went with synthetic textures employing various modern techniques. The moving sound FX help convey the feeling of a progressive brand and the MRI recording and heartbeat sound, highlight the industry and give a sense of authenticity.
BRAND MUSIC
For the brand music, we wanted to tell the full story of the brand by composing a track with a dynamic structure and many variations. The result is a polished electronic track with modern textures and some live instrument for a feeling of trust and authenticity. Harmony and melody support a sense of openness and friendliness. We highlighted the best quality standards of the brand through clean and muted sounds, the grand piano and strings. Dynamic sound FX and the drums give a progressive feel to the track, and the fast repetitions of some elements and muted electric guitar help convey a feeling of precision. Last, we used the heartbeat as part of the beat and presented the audio logo in different versions during the whole track.
The Brand wanted a small library of tracks that would cover a wide range of moods present in their content marketing strategy. Based on the new audio identity and guidelines, we composed 5 tracks, each covering one or two moods. The productions have a three-act structure, making them very versatile and flexible. By including fragments of brand music and audio logo and the brand’s core instrumentation, we ensure a consistent sound and communication in all their content and across all channels. We also prepared versions with different lengths that can be looped with each other, alongside with stems (separate instrument group tracks), that together allow for a quick, efficient and agile workflow.
AUDIO BRANDING AUDIO IDENTITY & STRATEGY
We offer a variety of audio branding services that will help you communicate with a consistent voice across all your channels, maximize your marketing strategy and strengthen your brand identity.