Interview with red dot juror Rainer Hirt

Rainer Hirt is a member of this year’s international jury of the red dot award: communication design as an expert for the category ‘Sound Design’. The communication designer is founder of the website www.audio-branding.de, author of a series on branding and sound in the communication design magazine Novum, as well as co-founder of Anemono Kommunikation, a firm specialised in multisensory corporate brand design. In an interview with red dot, Rainer Hirt talked about the significance of acoustic brand management and his expectations for this year’s adjudication. 

Mr. Hirt, you studied communication design and founded Anemono together with Michael Hoppe and Markus Reiner in order to realise your idea of a holistic brand communication. Since 2003, you have also been hosting the web platform www.audio-branding.de, a valuable resource for professionals on sound in branding. In your opinion, why is it so important today to give a brand not only a visual image but also a sound identity?

Rainer Hirt: I believe that’s due to several reasons. For one, people today are bombarded daily with thousands of visual advertising messages. This has made it difficult for a brand to stand apart from the rest, to create a presence, and to communicate a message. Given that multisensory communication is so much more effective than ‘monosensory’ communication, acoustic brand management is gaining prominence the strategic positioning of a brand.

Secondly, as it stands, companies are already communicating acoustically on a daily basis, whether they want to or not––from musical on-hold messages to response sounds in consumer products. In short, companies can no longer afford to leave their acoustic image to chance.

What design philosophy stands behind your work with Anemono?

Rainer Hirt: Our premise is that a brand is more than the bare bones identity of a company, product, or service. A brand has the power to turn clients into fans––and from there to become a mythos, a cult object, and a vector for change. To this end, communication design offers a main contribution. Our focus lies on the development of visual and acoustic communication strategies and design elements. We want brands to be not only recognisable but also ‘exerienceable’.

This year you are a member of the international expert jury of red dot award: communication design, where you will judge work submitted to the category Sound Design. Still a young category in red dot award: communication design, Sound Design was already enjoying increased recognition last year. What importance is given to sound design in general and how do you see its future?

Rainer Hirt: Over the past years, sound design, in particular ‘corporate sound’, has gained credibility. The theme seems to have made inroads in the minds of decision-makers, as testified by an increasing number of corporate sound developments. The continually growing number of corporate sound suppliers demonstrates the created market potential. Moreover, on an international level, a veritable movement is in the making. University activities (UDK Berlin, TU Delft, etc.), various professional publications (such as the compendium Audio-Branding, published by myself and Kai Bronner) as well as a growing list of masters and doctoral dissertations indicate that the subject in well on its way of becoming its own discipline.

However, a lot of convincing and awareness raising needs to be done until the acoustic dimension of brand communication stands on even footing with the visual component. One possibility which I personally use is to get future decision-makers and communication professionals at universities and colleges interested in the topic. That community has been very open and receptive.

What is your approach to the adjudication and the submitted work?

Rainer Hirt: I look forward to seeing, i.e., ‘hearing’, a multitude of exciting work as well as to engaging in discussions and exchanges with my jury colleagues. I personally plan to place special emphasis on the conceptional basis of the works. The context in which a corporate sound was created will be of interest to me, together with the creativity involved in solving the problem or task. The multisensory audio-visual interaction will be a further evaluation criterion, including aspects such as memorability, flexibility, and functionality at the product or industry sector level.

About Rainer Hirt

Although only 28 years of age, Rainer Hirt already boasts a distinguished8 career. While still a communication design student, he founded the corporate sound information portal www.audio-branding.de, well-known in professional circles, and contributed articles to the brand-sound series for the communication design magazine Novum. In 2006 he cofounded, with Michael Hoppe and Markus Reiner, Anemono Kommunikation, a multisensory firm specialised in corporate-brand design. With a focus on the development of acoustic or visual communication strategies and design systems, Anemono assists, among others, Danone, Symrise, and Volkswagen. Rainer Hirt is also author and co-producer of the compendium Audio-Branding. Entwicklung, Anwendung, Wirkung akustischer Identitäten in Werbung, Medien und Gesellschaft) (Audio-Branding, Development, Usage and Effect of Acoustic Identities in Advertising, Media and Society) (Munich: Verlag Reinhard Fischer, 2007) and has been, since 2007, supervising various research projects, among them on the topics of effectiveness measurement of acoustic brand value transfer (ESB Reutlingen) and sound and taste (University of Flensburg). This year Rainer Hirt founded ICAB (International Community for Audio-Branding), an exchange forum for international experts, in addition to being appointed as a design expert to the jury of the internationally renowned red dot design award.

Register for the red dot award: communication design 2008 here!