Organised as a semantic space

The centrepiece of the Plek approach is a map that spans a two-dimensional semantic space. The two levels of the map are precisely harmonised: Terms for emotions (or motifs or values) coincide with pieces of music (playable while exploring the map).

The selection and distribution of the terms and pieces of music are based on empirical studies in which test subjects described the extent to which they associate certain music with certain feelings.

Statistical methods were used to convert the statements into degrees of relationship and thus into specific distances between data points on the map. Emotions and music genres are all the more incompatible the further apart they are.

The representation as a continuum takes into account the realisation that emotional and musical experiences do not form clearly separated clusters, but are rather characterised by seamless transitions and complex mixtures.

The universal language of instrumental music

Why music? Music is an abstract form of art, it does not represent anything concrete. Nevertheless, music is expressive. Firstly, people read it as a symbol with meaning and secondly, they associate it with feelings. The more abstract a symbol is, the more directed its semantic power becomes.

Instrumental music in particular is therefore ideally suited to conveying emotionally charged meanings with a high degree of reliability. Unlike images, which quickly trigger cascades of associations that can hardly be controlled semantically.

Comparing emotional meanings

Viewed through the lens of the tool, brand expressions such as mission statements or advertising films can be graphically localised in the same semantic space and thus made comparable. Although music is the frame of reference in which brands are discussed here, this does not mean that the expressions being analysed are always music themselves. They can be, but do not have to be.

In contrast to audio branding, the Plek approach is not aimed at something that must always be made audible as an acoustic element in brand communication. Acoustic means serve first and foremost to describe the essence of brands and make it possible to discuss them in a new way. Theoretically independent of communication disciplines or content.

Evaluation of brand aspects

Creating a Plek profile for a brand or even an entire industry consists of two assessment steps.

On the one hand, publicly available statements on the strategic positioning of a particular brand are assigned to the most suitable areas on the Plek map (“how the brand thinks”).

On the other hand, how the brand actually expresses itself is analysed. Preferably using music in commercials or corporate films. Not least because music is already present in the map as a layer, which simplifies the assignment. Finally, the assessment is also marked as a point or zone on the map (“how the brand acts”).

Generating new insights

Comparing the brand essence, which is usually set out in written form, with the actual appearance, in which music is often the dimension that is least strategically controlled by companies, enables new questions to be asked and new insights to be gained.

Which brand “acts” the way it “thinks”? And in which cases does the positioning of a brand have a different emotional focus than the tenor of what it communicates in its advertising? Does this even lead to real contradictions or is it perhaps legitimised by the need for new stories to constantly cater to different emotions?

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