Latest / The CMO Podcast with Fexingo: Marketing Leadership, Budgets, and Executive Strategy / Why CMOs Are Marketing Through Audio Holograms and Spatial Sound
Transcript
- Lucas: Luna, I want to start with a number that stopped me cold. A 2025 study from MIT Media Lab found that when people hear a brand message in spatial audio — meaning the sound feels like it's coming from a specific direction or moving around them — emotional engagement jumps 41 percent compared to plain stereo. Not 10 percent. 41. Luna: That's huge. But is that real engagement or just novelty? Like, the first time you hear a song in Dolby Atmos it feels amazing, but does it last? Lucas: Great question. And honestly, the jury's still out on durability. But CMOs are already betting real money on it. Coca-Cola ran a holiday campaign in December 2025 where they placed audio hologram installations in five major train stations — no screen, no signage, just a 3D sound bubble. You walk into it and you hear a 30-second orchestral arrangement that sounds like it's swirling around you. They measured unaided recall at 34 percent, which for an outdoor audio-only execution is remarkable. Luna: How do you even measure recall on something that doesn't have a visual logo? Did they ask people 'Did you hear something weird in the station?' Lucas: Pretty close to that, actually. They did exit interviews with commuters who passed through the zone. And 34 percent could correctly describe the brand and the emotional tone of the audio. That's in line with a good TV ad, but at a fraction of the production cost. No video, no talent, no editing suite — just a sound designer, a spatial mix, and a set of speakers. Luna: I wonder if this is one of those moments where the technology is ahead of the strategy. I mean, spatial audio has been around in headphones for years. Apple Music, Tidal, they all have Atmos. But this is about public space, which feels different. Lucas: Exactly. And that's where the real marketing opportunity lives — not in your earbuds, but in physical environments. Think about retail, trade shows, hotel lobbies, airport lounges. Places where you have a captive audience but visual clutter is everywhere. Audio holograms cut through without adding visual noise. A few brands are already testing this. Spotify, believe it or not, has been experimenting with branded spatial playlists that shift depending on where you're standing in a store. Luna: Wait — so the music literally changes based on your location in the store? That's not just a single 3D effect, that's adaptive audio. Lucas: Yes. They're working with a company called Syng, which makes a speaker that can triangulate your position. You walk near the coffee pods, the playlist adds a low-fi beat. You move to the wine section, it shifts to acoustic guitar. The brand integration is seamless because it's mood-based, not interruptive. Luna: But let's talk cost. A Coca-Cola train station installation — that's got to be north of a hundred grand per location, easy. For a national brand that's fine, but what about a regional retailer or a direct to consumer brand? Lucas: You're right that the top-end stuff is expensive. But the hardware is dropping fast. A basic spatial audio rig for a pop-up store now costs about the same as a mid-range video wall — maybe fifteen to twenty thousand dollars. And the production for a 30-second spatial spot is cheaper than a 30-second TV spot because there's no visual production. Pure audio. Luna: If these marketing conversations have sparked something you've actually used — a tactic, a pricing idea, a new way to think about your brand — that's exactly why we do this. We deliberately don't run ads on these shows. No sponsors, no pre-rolls, no mid-rolls interrupting the flow. Lucas: Right. And if you want to support that choice, the link is buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. That's all it is. A coffee. Or the digital equivalent of one. It keeps the whole network ad-free for everyone. Luna: Yeah. And it genuinely makes a difference. Now back to audio holograms — because I want to push on something else. Is there any data showing that spatial audio actually drives purchase, not just recall? Lucas: There is, and it's early but promising. A company called AudioCues ran a controlled test at a grocery chain in the UK. They installed spatial audio triggers at the end-cap of a snack aisle. When a customer walked near, they heard a 10-second branded soundscape for a new chip brand. Sales lift was 22 percent compared to the control store with no audio. Now, that's one test, but it's the kind of number that makes a CMO sit up. Luna: 22 percent from just sound? No sample? No visual change? That's wild. But I wonder if it's the novelty effect — customers aren't used to being marketed to with sound in that way, so it grabs attention. After a few months, does it wear off? Lucas: That's the million-dollar question. And honestly, no one has long-term data yet because the technology hasn't been in the field long enough. But the same was true of digital out-of-home screens when they first appeared. The first brands to use them saw huge lift. Then the novelty faded and the bar rose. I think spatial audio will follow a similar curve — early movers get a disproportionate advantage, but it won't last forever. Luna: So what does that mean for a CMO listening right now? Should they be budgeting for a pilot in Q3 2026? Lucas: I think yes, but with a specific lens. Don't do it for brand awareness alone. Do it where you can tie the sound to an action. A QR code that appears on a nearby screen when the audio plays. A promo code whispered in the spatial mix. Something that closes the loop. The MIT study also found that retention drops 60 percent if there's no call to action within the soundscape. People remember the feeling but forget the brand. Luna: That's the key insight right there. It's not enough to be immersive. You have to be actionable. Otherwise it's just a cool tech demo. Lucas: Exactly. And that's where I see the smartest CMOs going. They're not buying spatial audio as a gimmick. They're buying it as a contextual trigger. One example I love — a hotel chain, I won't name them because they haven't announced it yet — is testing spatial audio in their lobbies that changes based on the time of day and the number of people in the room. Morning it's bright and upbeat. Evening it's warm and slow. The brand identity is carried entirely by the audio architecture. Luna: That's almost like a sonic brand identity that adapts in real time. That's way beyond a jingle. Lucas: Right. And it raises a really interesting question for marketing teams. Who owns this? Is it the brand team? The experiential team? The audio team? Most organizations don't have a head of audio strategy. But I think within two years that will be a real role. Luna: Let's talk about the potential backlash. Some consumers might find it invasive — being marketed to via sound in public space without opting in. Are there privacy concerns? Lucas: Absolutely. And the industry is aware. The Audio Branding Association actually published voluntary guidelines in early 2026. They recommend clear signage that says 'audio experience active in this area' and an easy way to opt out — usually just walking out of the zone. But it's not regulated the way visual advertising is. So there's a trust risk. If a brand overdoes it, they could create a real negative association. Luna: So the CMO's job is to calibrate. Enough to be memorable, not so much that it's creepy. That's a fine line. Lucas: That's the CMO's job in everything, right? Anyway, the reason I'm bullish on this is that sound is underutilized. We have five senses, and marketing has basically colonized two of them — sight and hearing in a very limited way. Spatial audio activates hearing in a new dimension, and it can also blend with haptics and even scent in the future. The multi-sensory brand is coming. Luna: What's the next milestone you're watching for? Like, what event or announcement would make you say 'okay, this is real'? Lucas: Two things. One: when a major retailer — think Target or Tesco — rolls out spatial audio network-wide, not just a pilot. Two: when we see a brand report that spatial audio drove a measurable increase in same-store sales that persisted beyond the novelty period. I'm predicting that happens by the end of 2027. Luna: That's a pretty specific prediction. I'll hold you to it. In the meantime, I'm going to start paying attention to what I hear in my local grocery store. Lucas: You should. And if you hear something that sounds like it's moving around you, that's not your imagination. That's a CMO's budget at work.