Mastercard’s App Intros its Sonic Brand Identity with Personalized Jingles

You’re no doubt familiar with the interlocking red and yellow circles that form Mastercard’s brand identity—its visual brand identity, that is. In 2019, Mastercard introduce its first-ever sonic brand identity, a short jingle without words that is meant to form the card issuer’s audio calling card. Part of the rollout for the sonic identity involved activations at Mastercard-sponsored events like the Grammys, Brit Awards, League of Legends esports championship series and Pebble Beach Pro-Am golf tournament. There, Mastercard introduced a first-of-its kind, artificial intelligence-driven social app to create a unique version of the tune for each user based on information they shared about themselves.

At each event, the Mastercard exhibit featured an iPad kiosk running the app, which guests could use to choose a musical genre, a mood and a style. Based on those inputs, the program drew from a database of instruments, sounds, melodies and rhythms to create a personalized music track for that person—after which the app added Mastercard’s brand tune, but in the same style, key and rhythm as the guest’s song. The brand also developed a mobile version of the app and a dedicated microsite so that anyone who wasn’t at Mastercard events could try it out.