Creating a Sonic Identity for the University of Houston, p. 56-63

Khalid Ballouli
Gregg Bennett

On the red-eye flight from Ann Arbor to Houston, Noelle found she was the only passenger not sleeping soundly. The electric buzz from the previous day’s studio recording was still rippling through her body. Noelle had spent weeks in Ann Arbor consulting with the University of Michigan regarding a music strategy to help market Wolverine athletics. Last night, she witnessed the culmination of her project, as Michigan rock band Pop Evil recorded a final version of their song titled “Big House,” a tribute to the famed Michigan Stadium. In the studio, Noelle and her colleagues glossed over details regarding the launch of the song on iTunes and Amazon in the coming weeks. She also provided a detailed timeline of events where Pop Evil was scheduled to perform live at Wolverine events. During these final stages, Noelle is always reminded of the question posed by clients at the outset of each project: “We know what our brand is supposed to look like; we have a logo design. But what is our brand supposed to sound like?” Now, just hours from landing in Houston, Noelle began the process of answering this question for her next client, the University of Houston (UH) and Cougar athletics.