The residents of Forssa participated in the creation of the city’s sound brand by sharing their thoughts on what the century-old city sounds like.
Forssan, the city, unveiled its sound brand last week, a project initiated to commemorate the city’s hundred-year celebration last year.
It has a captivating aura, just like an engaging movie trailer!
The 36-second sound clip from Forssa, available on YouTube, includes diverse sounds such as a horse, a rapid, a welder, and the bustling soundscape of the market.
Last summer, over 900 Forssa residents contributed to the creation of the sound brand by sharing their impressions of the city’s auditory environment. The most popular selection was a local dialect word that signifies fun, uniqueness, and peculiarity, among other things.
The sound of Forssa, as represented by this voice clip, captures a positive atmosphere, reflected in the sound of the hooves and the market’s noise, according to the city’s mayor, Jari Kesäniemi.
Nonetheless, it’s challenging to define the exact meaning of a local dialect word.
“Every Forssa resident interprets the word ‘holjalla’ in their own unique way,” Kesäniemi muses.
This dialect word is also included in the name of the Holjat city festival, an event organized in the Forssa market since 1989.
The final sound brand was crafted by composer and artistic director of the Turku Castle Theatre, Jussi Vahvaselkä. As part of the audio branding process, a five-second audio logo and a longer audio piece were created for use in Forssa’s communication and marketing initiatives.
Forssan’s city marketing secretary, Päivi Majava, says that the sound brand, developed in partnership with advertising agency 4D, complements the previously released Forssa brand manual.
A brand manual is essential in the competitive landscape of municipal marketing.
“The voice brand is innovative, as not many municipalities have utilized sound branding in their marketing strategies,” Majava points out.
The trend of using sound brands in city and municipal marketing appears to be on the rise: Pori unveiled its own sound brand in January of this year, and Oulu’s brand music and sound logo have been in use for a couple of years now.
The objective of the sound brand is to foster a positive perception of Forssa, as explained by Mayor Kesäniemi.
The sound brand also has a precursor: the signature music of Silja Line, now known as Tallink Silja.
Both Kesäniemi and Majava cite it as an example that evokes specifically pleasant memories.
