Katrien Bottez is creative director at Happiness Brussels. Before that, she worked at FamousGrey and she was creative director for more than 10 years at Duval Guillaume. Katrien started as a creative director at Duval Guillaume in 2005. The year after Katrien was named 'Creative of the Year’. She gathered over 30 Cannes Lions and has won over 40 eurobest prices. She says 'what a brand sounds is at least as important as what a brand looks like'. 

“As a child I loved watching Dutch channels. Not only for the programs, but also for the commercial breaks. They were invariably announced by Loeki de Leeuw. The videos did not last much longer than 4 seconds and ended with the slogan "asjemenou". Loekie quit in 2004 but I can still remember exactly how that cry sounded. The Dutch knew how to create good sounds. Sometimes it was just one sentence that stuck: "Hey, it's green. And now it's red again! "In a spot for Fruit Joy. Sometimes it was a sentence in combination with a steady voice: "You must have the vegetables from Hak!" By Martine Bijl. It was often well-chosen music or a jingle that, in my child's brain, created a direct link to a certain brand.

In 2015, I was allowed to work on such a Dutch brand: Coolblue wanted to launch on the Belgian market. We were asked how we would install their baseline "everything for a smile" and how we would translate it auditory. A brand with so much personality had to get its own sound and deserved more than a jingle. When we proposed to the client to work out a complete audio strategy, they were won over to the idea immediately. The line "anything for a smile" was translated in its purest form into 5 notes that are whistled. Those 5 notes are the last few seconds of a much longer sound score that can be used anytime, anywhere. Many derivatives followed, the same melody was remixed for Christmas, ‘on hold’ music, team building, there is even a Coolblue vinyl record. I foster the silent hope that there will be children who hear 5 specific notes within 10 years and think "ah, that's Coolblue, anything for a smile."

Coolblue

Agency: Duval Guillaume
Sound: Sonhouse

in collaboration with var

InTune: a magazine of VAR about media, brands and people. In this special sonic branding edition: 

- Mastercard: a succesful brand transformation
- Start to sonic branding in 6 steps
- The greatest sonic cases in the world
- The favourite sonic branding-cases of...

And lots more…

download intune: the sonic branding edition