Q&A: Sound Insights with Oxford Road’s Stew Redwine and Made Music Studio’s Mike Stango
At Made Music Studio, we know that Sonic Branding is about more than creating memorable music — though we’re always down to create the next great earworm. It’s about driving results. Gone are the days when sound was a nice-to-have in a brand toolkit. Now, a Sonic Identity System is both a necessity and a strategic advantage.
When we first connected with audio advertising agency Oxford Road, it was clear we shared the same passion and understanding of Sonic Branding: one that blends creativity, strategy, and performance. Beginning with our recent collaboration on the sound of Zocdoc, we’ve been able to combine our unique superpowers to help brands see real impact.
We sat down with Oxford Road’s Stew Redwine (VP, Creative) and Made Music’s own Mike Stango (Director, Global Brand Partnerships) to discuss how our partnership began, why Sonic Branding is often a challenge for modern brands, and how audio is driving media effectiveness in The Age of Audio.
So how did the Oxford Road and Made Music Studio teams first come together?
Stew Redwine: I'd been in audio advertising for years, making ads work for folks. But about three years ago, I really started to take more of an interest in Sonic Branding, and I came across Joel Beckerman's book, The Sonic Boom. I invited Joel to be a guest on our podcast at Oxford Road, Ad Infinitum, which is a podcast that's solely devoted to what makes audio ads work and how to make them work better. We had an awesome episode. He was so approachable, open-handed, and collaborative, which you see in all the work that Made Music does. That was very inspiring.
So as I got more into Sonic Branding, I wondered if this is something that we can bring to some of our clients...but how do we even do that?
Mike Stango: I just remember Stew called me one day. (laughter) We got to talking about the power of sound and what Oxford Road does for their clients. Where I was really impressed was when he started telling me all the data points that I usually tell people about! It just felt like a great opportunity to partner: the Made Music Studio team wants to make sure we're creating the best Sonic Brand assets that we can, while Oxford Road optimizes the use of them so that you're getting the maximum ROI and effectiveness out of them. I just think that's a perfect marriage.
How are brands’ needs evolving when it comes to sound?
Stew: We’re living in The Age of Audio, a phrase I credit to the documentary filmmaker Shaun Michael Colón. It feels so appropriate.
Culturally, there just seems to be this big shift towards how sound impacts us. There was just a story in the BBC about how the background noise in modern life negatively impacts our health. You can look at the popularity of Bettersleep and their emphasis on the positive impacts of Green Noise, Pink Noise, and Brown Noise. And there is a growing body of research on the power of sound to impact brand affinity, recall, and action. The bottom line is that any brand that is serious about wanting to get and keep new customers needs to look at all of the senses, sound especially. As a result, we’re seeing marketers and product designers becoming more intentional with audio.
Mike: People are starting to think about using sound in intuitive ways for their growing number of touchpoints — creating the right sounds for the right experiences, whether that’s in broadcast, digital or physical environments. I think about self-checkout. You want to feel good when you make a purchase, but oftentimes you tap your card and hear the worst sound in the world. Modern brands like American Express have taken that opportunity to include a branded payment sound that communicates trust and positivity instead of “did my card just get declined?” We’re seeing more thinking headed in that direction, which is exciting.
Oxford Road and Made Music Studio’s first collaboration was on the Sonic Identity for Zocdoc. How did that project come to life?
Stew: It started at our Chief Audio Officer Messaging Forum in 2024, where we talked about the power of Sonic Branding. We demonstrated the impact that branded sound had on performance when integrated into podcasts or radio campaigns. That resonated with Zocdoc, who was expanding into new marketing channels at the time.
Mike: Zocdoc’s mission is to give power to the patient, and they wanted to make that message clear across audio-first platforms. Their visual branding was performing well, but they needed to amplify that attribution in a cluttered tech space.
Where did you land in terms of a solution?
Mike: Zocdoc’s new Sonic Logo is called “The Little Victory.” It’s bright and triumphant, and creates a memory trigger for everything Zocdoc provides for patients and providers.
Stew: It creates a bright spot in the healthcare space, a very challenging aspect of modern life in the States. Zocdoc, and therefore their Sonic Brand, makes that easier and hopefully puts a little bit of a smile on your face.
Mike: Before I started using Zocdoc, I was just going to the doctor’s office I've been going to since I was a kid, traveling back from New York City to Long Island! And then I found Zocdoc and I was like, “this is amazing.” It's really about celebrating that feeling. We also created an entire music strategy and curated music on our platform, Continuum™, which takes that impact even further.
What are the benefits of incorporating a Sonic Identity System into a brand toolkit?
Stew: Primarily it's performance. The reality brands are facing is that only 16% of advertising is remembered and attributed correctly. But from our own research at Oxford Road, we've seen improvement with the consistent use of a Sonic Brand, and Ipsos has found that Sonic Branding can boost branded attention by 8.5X. If you can have that big of a multiplier on your creative by using Sonic Branding, it’s a no brainer.
Mike: We still see a lot of missed opportunities for that kind of impact. There's so much effort that goes into brand messaging to make it memorable — what you’re going to say and how you’re showing up in an ad. And then sometimes that'll be downgraded by a piece of stock music that isn’t ownable or distinct. It’s not a question of if you’re showing up, it’s how.
Stew: To me, Sonic Branding really boils down to one question: “Can they recognize your Brand with their eyes closed?” Hearing is our fastest sense. You heard in the womb before you saw anything. We use alarm clocks to wake up. It’s a fast track into the parts of the brain where memory and emotion are created and stored. You can instantly improve performance with the right music and sound.
What’s the secret to creating a powerful audio presence for modern brands?
Stew: There’s definitely no one-size-fits-all approach — the solution is going to be based on the needs of the client. The way we like to say it: we just want the ads to work. We start with a holistic approach, understanding each brand’s KPIs, ecosystem, and channels of focus like podcasts or streaming. We want to know:
How does audio fit into the entire brand ecosystem?
What are the business goals?
How's the business doing?
What are the communications goals?
Is our KPI a return on ad spend or customer acquisition cost, etc.?
Mike: We take a similar approach: we like to say we become “musical method actors,” really understanding a brand, their challenges, and their needs. We talk to stakeholders, conduct competitive analysis, and dive into their existing brand world and media. It starts with deep strategy and deep understanding so we can effectively translate that into music that’ll stand the test of time.
Stew: Sonic Branding is a long-term proposition, with long-term performance impact.
Our proprietary framework Audiolytics™ is a nine-part recipe for persuasion effectiveness: Setup, Value Prop, Positioning, Demonstration, Substantiation, Offer, Scarcity, Path, and Execution. We can help optimize elements like voiceover or catchphrases that can show short-term gains. Where we see long-term gains is with Sonic Branding. What I love about the partnership with Made Music Studio is now we actually have experts that can help us with the long-term piece of it.
Why do you think Sonic Branding is such a challenge for brands?
Stew: It’s invisible. Even though audio has such an emotional impact, it's not something that is often budgeted for or included as part of a brand brief because it’s harder to latch onto than visual branding.
“With audio, you’ve got this super highway into consumers’ hearts and minds... More and more brands are waking up to how powerful that is.”
Mike: Visual and Sonic Branding are very much like dance partners: they're meant to work together and complement one another. You could say a Sonic Identity is designed much like the rest of a brand identity is, with the same level of rigor and strategy. For a visual identity, maybe you have a typeface, a color palette, a motion style guide. For a Sonic Identity, we build a solid foundation and introduce elements like a Sonic Logo, a music curation strategy, UX/UI sounds, experiential soundscapes, you name it. It's about weaving together every element of a brand to create the best possible experience overall.
Stew: It really takes confidence and courage to go there. There's an old Jerry Seinfeld joke about how people are more scared of public speaking than they are of dying — I don't think that's a small thing! We can think about that from a brand perspective, too. It takes courage to “use your voice,” so to speak, and more and more brands are waking up to just how powerful that is.
What is important for other brands navigating this space to know about the audio space?
Stew: Clarity is really important. With audio, you've got this super highway into consumers’ hearts and minds, so you should be as focused in your message as possible. What is it that you're looking to communicate and accomplish with audio? Be very, very clear and focused in that — and then repeat at scale, as often as is appropriate for your brand and audience. There’s a reason we all remember the jingles for local advertisers: they understand the power of audio, they do massive frequency, and so they’re ever present in our minds even years after we’ve moved away from home.
Mike: I’ll add that Sonic Branding at scale is definitely not easy. We’ve seen so many brands in the news face lawsuits for using unlicensed tracks, or other using creative shortcuts through AI-generated music. We created our music platform Continuum to help address those challenges — the platform provides easily accessible, on-brand, and safe-to-use music for brands. As we did for Zocdoc, we custom curate that library to ensure it aligns with brand values and emotional takeaways, no matter the platform or piece of content.
What are you excited for when it comes to the future of this partnership?
Stew: To bring it to more brands! We’re definitely hitting our groove. It’s like we’re a garage band getting in the pocket. My entire career as a professional creative and in the commercial arts has been a journey of finding the people that are most expert at something, building deep, long-lasting partnerships, and creating solutions together. I think of that Winston Churchill quote: “My tastes are simple, I am easily satisfied with the best.” It’s very exciting to have a solid solution to bring to the table for folks who are serious about their ads working better than ever.
Mike: Yeah, I'm right there with you. When clients come to us, the thing they want most is brand attribution and recognition. Working with Oxford Road gives clients a 20-meter head start. Together, we’re setting brands up for success.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
About Oxford Road
Oxford Road is on a mission to grow companies worth fighting for with best-in-market performance at maximum viable scale. They are the world's largest podcast agency and a market leader in audio and creator-based video advertising. Now, having united with Veritone One, they also boast an advanced technology stack, data capabilities, and creator-led video and influencer expertise, giving global brands and fast-growth tech companies unparalleled access to and performance in podcasting, streaming audio, radio, and creator-based video channels. Recognized as thought leaders by publications such as USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, Adweek, Ad Age, and more, Oxford Road continues to drive growth and positive change for the industry while serving as a leading voice for the industry through its weekly newsletter, The Influencer, white papers, conferences, and their podcast, The Media Roundtable. Oxford Road stands by its motto, “Influence Responsibly.”
Case Study: The Sound of Zocdoc
Zocdoc's first-ever sonic logo captures the triumphant moment of booking an appointment on the digital platform. Dive deeper into the collaboration with Made Music Studio and Oxford Road.
View the Case Study