PUMB Online is a mobile application of the First Ukrainian International Bank (FUIB, PUMB as transliterated from Ukrainian), one of the TOP 5 largest banks in Ukraine.
PUMB Online is literally a bank in a smartphone, not only reliably holds clients’ funds but also helps customers efficiently manage them while saving time.
When the PUMB Online team first approached us, they wanted us to create some sounds for their app. They believed (and not without reason!) that it would help them successfully differentiate themselves from their competitors.
We studied their needs in detail and realized that a more effective solution would be creating a full-fledged audio brand for PUMB Online. In this case, the app’s sonic identity would become one of the music and sounds system elements that would convey the brand meaning at each touchpoint.
Not least of all, our study of the Ukrainian mobile banking market influenced the decision to create an audio brand. We found out that until recently, none of the players had such a systematic approach to the use of audio, and PUMB Online could become the first in this area.
Once we understood our main task, our exciting collaboration began.
As always, we started our work on the audio brand with a detailed, in-depth briefing. We asked the PUMB Online team about their product, its benefits and points of differentiation, the target audience, their needs, preferences, and expectations, and of course, about the central brand promise that we had to translate into audio. After a few sessions, we were able to form 9 associations to define the audio brand.
After that, we turned to our Ukrainian mobile banking market study once again. We had to understand auditory clichés that would be better to avoid during our work.
Interesting fact: we had some hypotheses about the music and audio clichés of the banking industry, but the real picture turned out to be quite different.
So far, Ukrainian banks indeed don’t differ much in their auditory communication, but they don’t use any classical orchestral music (as we thought). On the contrary, we heard many pop-rock compositions, tracks with funky guitars, and percussion tracks with lots of claps and clicks. The latter often becomes a simple choice to ease commercial video production.
And, of course, almost all market players constantly use corporate tracks from music stocks, which has long been an obsolete solution.
All the gathered information helped us preliminarily set specific frames to stay in while creating the audio brand for PUMB Online. Next, we set about creating audio mood boards — playlists that would explore different ways of conveying the necessary associations in musical form and help us clarify the framework of the creative process.
We selected several musical excerpts for each set of 9 associations that the sonic identity was meant to convey. Subsequently, in a session with the PUMB Online team, we listened carefully to each playlist and selected the most relevant to the product excerpts. Along the way, we put together a playlist with musical ideas codenamed «Definitely Not!» — it included tracks that might fit the established associations, but wouldn’t work in the overall context of the brand.
All these preparation steps helped us to form a preliminary audio concept for PUMB Online. We understood which instruments we would use in our creative process, which arrangement we would need to create, with which harmonies and textures we would experiment. Of course, we didn’t forget about the existing PUMB audio branding asset — the unforgettable «Poomb-poomb-poomb». 🙂
When we started creating the first audio DNA demos, we simultaneously worked on two versions that explored different associations embedded in the brand. Each of the demos had roughly the same set of elements: pianos, synthetic textures, electronic beats, female voice, mid-tempo, and minimalism in the arrangement. But they differed in nuances of mood and «percentages» of inserted ideas.
We created two versions on purpose to test them directly on the app’s audience. After all, one of the main goals of an audio brand is to improve the user experience, so audience opinion was crucial to us.
Thanks to FUIB’s research lab, we conducted a test using a methodology developed with their experts. The test was conducted on a panel of 20 respondents aged 18-48, living in different cities of Ukraine and actively using mobile banking. Among them were the customers of FUIB and other Ukrainian banks.
A primary purpose of the testing was to determine the amount of the necessary ideas and associations that were «read» by the audience. During the tests, respondents were given a list of concepts that would be laid as the basis of the audio brand, followed by several «control» concepts. Some of them were close in meaning to the needed ones for the brand, and some, on the contrary, had undesirable connotations. After listening to the demos (and the two control tracks), respondents were asked to match them with the concepts from the list.
When processing the results, the audience was conventionally divided into two age groups. The younger audience from the list of 9 necessary associations correctly «read» 7 out of 9 while listening to demo №1 and 9 out of 9 while listening to demo №2. The older audience «read» 8 out of 9 and 7 out of 9 associations, respectively. An association was considered as «read» if it received more than 75% affirmative responses.
When we, along with the PUMB Online team, chose a «winner» among the DNA demos, we also considered the number of unwanted associations they evoked among some respondents. As a result, we chose the demo №2; as it had more effect on younger audiences, was acceptably effective for older audiences, and had significantly fewer unwanted associations. And, of course, it successfully conveyed the image of a reliable and humane partner bank that cares about the safety and comfort of its customers.
After the testing, we finalized the audio DNA and invited Inna Frantseskevich, a vocalist whose voice added even more humanity to the sound.
When the audio DNA was finally ready and approved, we began to create its adaptations: the sound identity of the app itself and the on-hold music (for the call center and FUIB telephony in general).
We started the development of the application sounds by setting tasks for each of them. For example, some should build and maintain the correct association for the product. Some (the majority) should also properly inform users and work with their emotions and feelings.
Relying on the task list and the sound that the audio DNA defined, we created two sets of sounds. As in the case of the DNA demo, they differed in conveying specific ideas, their duration, and their use of musical elements.
Again, we tested the sounds on a relevant audience, and they were active users of the app this time. Thus, we not only determined whether the notification sounds matched the brand’s desired associations, but we also monitored how well a particular sound performed the task of informing the user.
Eventually, we selected the most compelling sounds from both sets, and they ended up in the release. During the selection process, the PUMB Online team and we were guided by the respondents’ accuracy in relating the sound to the notification type, what associations it created, and how it met their expectations.
As a result, we developed the following types of sounds:
We should also talk about the on-hold music. It has an essential task because exactly this music clients will hear if they have to wait for the critical question solution. Therefore, this track should not just fill the silence. It should work with the emotional state of the client. Moreover, the composition should appeal to the fact that the person will not feel eternal waiting for the answer (if the music is poorly chosen, this impression is created within ten seconds of waiting).
So we made this adaptation of the audio DNA quite dynamic, incorporating as much as possible brand audio elements. As a result, it fully conveys the brand promise and is exciting to listen to.
Thanks to the joint efforts, PUMB Online became one of the first Ukrainian mobile banking apps that uses a systematic approach in audio communication with its audience.
Of course, this is only the beginning, but clients of PUMB Online can already have a more emotionally meaningful and integral customer experience.
You can listen to all the audio brand assets that we created for the PUMB Online app in the playlist below.
It’s rare to meet people from the outside who are so passionate and love what they do. What’s more, they begin to treat your product with the same love as you do. So I can tell you: if you’re thinking about the sounds in your product, you need to go to these guys even if you don’t understand much about it.