PENN Play | Sonic Branding

BIG PICTURE
As part of PENN Entertainments transformation into a modern omnichannel entertainment and gaming company, they sought to extend their new corporate brand to the customer experience with a reimagined loyalty program, PENN Play.

SONIC OBJECTIVES
Create a brand anthem for the PENN Play, “Well Played” campaign, inclusive of a brand mnemonic (sonic logo) that enables flexibility for adaptions across each of the four campaign spots. Create four versions of the core anthem that are tailored towards the personality and context of each spot, while maintaining a cohesive sonic branding experience to aid in brand recall. Translate PENN's core brand defining attributes of playful, sophisticated and approachable into a musical score. Utilize found sounds associated with the brand experience that aid in brand recognition and client ownability. Maintain a cohesive sonic identity across the versioning through melodic consistency and the use of sonic assets specifically crafted for PENN’s brand attributes.

SOLUTION
Our creative exploration involved a multi-genre approach, incorporating found sounds, traditional musical instruments, and synthesized sounds, all blended with modern production techniques. The final music scores included the use of card decks, dice, clinking of glasses, slot machines blended with more traditional instrumentation such as guitars, synths, trumpets, drums, and more. The core anthem and final mnemonic consists of an upbeat, ascending pentatonic melody that is delivered with a playful swinging 16th note triplet feel. The four adaptations included a energetic but sophisticated hero, a chiller vacation version, an anthemic version, and a classier version. Sonic assets were prepared for implementation across all client communications.

RESULTS
PENN Play’s launch exceeded historical performance and it’s given PENN Entertainment the connective tissue needed to strengthen the corporate brand and portfolio as it continues to build capabilities and acquire new offerings and customers.

The campaign won a Silver at the 2023 W3 Awards in the Integrated Campaigns category, as well as Silver for the 2024 Reggie Awards in the Customer Engagement Marketing category.

IMPACT
+15% web visits, +55% app downloads, +20% app active users, +15% social media interactions