Adelaide University Sonic Brand

The Creation of Adelaide University’s Sonic Brand

The Brief

Following the launch of the new Adelaide University brand in 2024, the need for a distinctive sonic identity - for use across all assets - emerged.

Sonic branding is a crucial element in effective branding and marketing strategy, and is an incredibly powerful tool for brands looking to stand out in a crowded marketplace. 

Effective sonic branding allows a brand to evoke a consistent emotion and foster this deep connection and trust with consumers, more quickly and across more mediums than in purely visual advertising. A unique sonic brand helps differentiate brands from their competitors and emphatically increases brand recognition and retention across time.

In order to produce a unique and powerful sonic brand for Adelaide University that would  encapsulate its core brand pillars: Proven, Audacious, and Open, Adelaide University partnered with Fuller and Sonar Music, to leverage their combined expertise in brand strategy and sonic composition.


Services Provided

Brand Strategy and Identity, Film, Photography & Audio

Having played a key role in shaping the University’s brand identity alongside Lippincott, Fuller brought an in-depth understanding of the brand’s tone, positioning, and aspirations to the project; while Sonar Music, renowned for crafting original and emotive sound designs, contributed their expertise in creating compelling brand stings, with past collaborations including high-profile brands like NRMA, Allianz, and 7-Eleven.

The creative process was highly collaborative, bringing together key stakeholders from across Adelaide University, along with the creative team at Richards Rose, and members of the University’s reference group to work together with Fuller and Sonar to define, review, and refine the sonic brand through the following key developmental stages: Sonic Brand Discovery; Strategy Workshop; Composition Phase; Final Selection; and Adaptations.

During the Sonic Brand Discovery phase Fuller collaborated with the University to gather key brand and usage information, and then worked with the Sonar Music team to provide an initial understanding of the brand.

All stakeholders then attended an initial Strategic Workshop where discovery information was reflected upon, and further information was gathered from the group to define the brand’s sonic essence and inform the creative brief.

Based on the workshop insights, Sonar, under Fuller’s guidance, commenced creative exploration for the sonic brand and developed multiple compositions that reflected the University’s identity.

Through a series of three listening and feedback workshops, all key stakeholders were presented with an initial selection of sonic mnemonics to review. Through numerous rounds of feedback, a final sting was chosen to develop further for final review.

Following the approval of the final sonic brand mnemonic, affectionately named “The Flight of the Shrike”, Sonar and Fuller worked in collaboration with Adelaide University’s reference group, and key stakeholders, to produce a suite of five variations on the chosen sonic brand to ensure flexibility and adaptability across various media formats, to cover key target audiences, and to ensure longevity in brand recognition.

Adelaide University is the first and only university in Australia with a sonic brand, placing it ahead of its competitors once again, by showing audacity and future thinking.

The Flight of the Shrike reflects Adelaide University’s audacious spirit, while staying true to its proven legacy. It’s a confident tone of uplifting positivity and energy in a world of uncertainty. It’s a buzzing of bold, ambitious ideas coming to be.

It’s the song of a new era of learning.