The Sound of a Unicorn

I only remember Spielberg's 1977 sci-fi odyssey Close Encounters of the Third Kind in sketches: a tortured Richard Dreyfuss carving landscapes out of mashed potatoes, a maniacally thrashing house mid-abduction, a yellow-robed Teri Garr caught between poise and perplexity. But I will always remember the SOUND. You know the sound, Re-Mi-Do-Do-So!!! It's John Williams' signal of first contact, a cosmic "hello" to something extraordinary. Heard out of context, decades later, it still delivers the feeling: that majestic, aching yearning for connection. That's the power of sound. It outlasts everything else.

Brands have known this for a long time. NBC's three-note chime has been a beckoning sofa siren since 1929. Even without Barry Manilow’s lyrics, State Farm cues the warm neighborly vibes. And now the form has evolved. Netflix's ta-dum turned a two-second moment into one of the most recognized sonic signatures on the planet. From full jingle to micro-sting, the right sound makes a brand feel like something, and then makes you feel something, every time you encounter it.

That's no longer a nice-to-have. Sonic identity is now one of the fastest-growing investments in brand marketing. The global sonic branding market reached $1.12 billion in 2024, with a projected growth rate of 13.9% annually through 2033 (GrowthMarketReports). As the landscape grows more fragmented across earbuds, smart speakers, video feeds, and AI interfaces where visuals don't always follow, sound has become the one brand element that travels everywhere. When you can't guarantee a logo placement, you can still own a feeling.

At Digitas, we believe in Networked Experiences, earning our way into people's lives, hearts, and habits, not forcing our way in. So, it felt right to ask: what does a Unicorn sound like?

To find out, we partnered with Elias, a renowned sonic branding studio, coincidentally, like Digitas, also born in 1980. And what a year to be born: CNN launched and changed how the world consumed news, Apple debuted a new product that would redefine personal technology, and Pac-Man took the world by storm. A single year when technology, entertainment, gaming, and media all hit the scene and never looked back. It was a formidable moment to launch a digital-first modern marketing agency, and that founding energy, unafraid of what's next, still runs through everything we do. Elias has shaped the sonic identities of brands like Columbia Pictures and FIFA World Cup 26, and they brought the same spirit of collaboration and adventure to ours. What we made together feels like us: fearless, inventive, generous, with a sprinkle of 80’s new wave optimism in the mix.

It's designed to be truly multimodal: a short burst that signals “let's begin” when you walk into a room, a longer form that opens the next Digitas Pictures content release, an acoustic handshake built for partnership. Flexible enough to live across every context. Distinctive enough to travel.

Like much of what we do at Digitas, this is just an experiment, one we will continuously evolve over time. While we may never compete with John Williams, we’re simply daring to stand apart and staking a claim to the sound of a unicorn forever on the move.