Air India Express unveils brand sonic identity

Air India Express has launched its sonic identity across touchpoints, with a festive twist to its inflight music. The airline also revealed a Middle Eastern rendition, acknowledging the significance of its 13 destinations in the Gulf.

The sonic brand of Air India Express was crafted through a thorough three-stage process, drawing from the brand's unique qualities of intuition, style, accessibility, and warmth. This sonic identity captures the brand's essence by incorporating three distinct emotions from Indian classical music – empathy, wonder, and valor. Additionally, it puts a unique spin on the traditional two-tone airline announcement 'chime.'

Talking about the brand sonic identity, Siddhartha Butalia, chief marketing officer, Air India Express, said, “Travel is meant to be about new experiences and lasting memories, and music resonates emotionally with both a universality in the way we experience it as well as a cultural specificity. Like our brand, our sonic identity has been crafted to deliver a more holistic and memorable sensory experience. It encapsulates the essence the new Air India Express brand and positioning, embodying the ‘Explorer’ and the ‘Everyperson’ archetypes, and inviting travellers to ‘Fly as You Are’ with a more liberating travel experience empowered by digitally driven personalisation. Our brand identity is reflected in our vision to inspire new possibilities and make meaningful connections with unmatched Indian warmth. Like the unique patterns of India on the tail of every new aircraft we are inducting, our sonic identity reflects the rich heritage and tapestry of our culture while resonating the vibrancy and confidence of a progressive and pluralistic future.”

The sonic identity for Air India Express using the science of sound and the art of music, was developed in collaboration with BrandMusiq. Certain scales or ragas were identified, such as ‘Raag Savitri,’ that express the brand’s ethos. These were incorporated with a fusion of traditional instruments such as the violin (South), sitar (Pan India), santoor (North), and flute (East), as well as rhythm instruments such as the ghatam (South) and tabla (North), and modern melodic instruments like the electric guitar and synth bass arpeggiator, with rhythmic instruments, including kick drums, snares, and hi-hats.

The Explorer avatar comes alive with the use of an Electric Guitar motif and Synth Bass Arpeggiator while the Every person avatar is brought alive with the use of the Sitar, Ghatam and Tabla. The dynamism, confidence, and optimism of the brand are expressed using a Synth Bass in combination with Kick and Snare Drums.

Taking inspiration from the Indian ‘Raag Savitri,’ which evokes feelings of upliftment and cheerfulness, the sonic identity of Air India Express is based on the dominant scale of Western music. The moving electric guitar motif and a synth bass arpeggiator were harnessed to express the airline’s adventurous, ‘Explorer’ personality. This was thoughtfully balanced by the sound of the ‘Everyperson,’ achieved using sitar, ghatam, and the tabla in the MOGOSCAPE®. The essence of karuna (empathy and understanding) was invoked through the melody, using the violin, santoor, and sitar. The combination of the synth bass arpeggiator with the drum and snare rhythm evokes the confidence and dynamism of the brand. The resulting melody is a fusion of Indian organic and modern Western instruments.

For the Middle East, Air India Express has adapted its sonic identity to resonate with the rich cultural nuances of the region. The Middle Eastern rendition of the sonic identity uniquely interprets sound as a unifying force between diverse regions, recognising music as a universal language. This adaptation incorporates distinctive instruments indigenous to the Middle East, such as Oud and Bağlama (string instruments), Darbuka and Mirwas (percussion instruments), Bouzouki (another string instrument), and Rebab (a traditional bowed string instrument).

Air India Express is featuring various artistic renditions of its sonic identity in its brand launch film, brand manifesto audio-visual, in-flight and at various customer engagement platforms including in its website, contact centre and multilingual Chatbot Tia. The sonic identity is also available to download on its website airindiaexpress.com and in-flight exprience hub, AirFlix. The Sonic Identity System includes a MOGOSCAPE® (sonic palette), a MOGO® (musical logo), and a Mini-MOGO® (the signature two-tone airline announcement ‘chime’). The powerful auditory signature has been meticulously designed keeping in mind the profound impact of sound on human emotions and decision-making, to reinforce brand recognition and the association with an irresistible groove that mirrors the airline's commitment to delivering a seamless and uplifting travel experience.