How Rajeev Raja helps brand grow using the power of audio
Why the founder who created Mastercard's award-winning sonic identity believes sound is 20x faster than vision in the attention economy
There’s a moment in our conversation where I ask Rajeev Raja to hum the Raymond jingle. He pauses, laughs, then plays it on his flute, right there in the studio. It’s the kind of moment that captures something essential about the man who built India’s first dedicated sonic branding agency.
Rajeev isn’t theorizing about sound. He’s a National Creative Director with 25+ years at DDB Mudra who also happens to be one of India’s foremost jazz flautists, having collaborated with Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy and White Snake’s Bernie Marsden. This dual mastery isn’t coincidental. It’s the foundation of BrandMusiq’s competitive advantage.
Check out the video of the conversation here or read on for insights.
Creating a Category From Nothing
When Rajeev founded BrandMusiq in May 2011, he wasn’t entering an existing market. He was creating one. The pitch was counterintuitive: while visual branding consumed millions in corporate budgets, sound was treated as an afterthought for 30-second TV spots.
His first client, Vistara, took a bet based purely on conceptual frameworks. There was no portfolio, no case studies. So Rajeev did what all category creators must do: he wrote the dictionary. He coined MOGO® (Musical Logo), MOGOSCAPE® (sonic palette), and “Earpoints” (audio touchpoints). By creating the vocabulary, he positioned BrandMusiq as the definitive expert before competition emerged.
Just as every brand has a logo, we create a mogo. Just as there are colors with brands, we create sonic palettes which resonate with the brand values.
The approach worked. Today, BrandMusiq serves Mastercard Global, PepsiCo’s 7Up, HDFC Bank, Infosys, and Zomato. The company reported 50%+ growth in 2023. The remarkable part? No venture capital. Ever.
The Capital Efficiency Playbook
BrandMusiq’s growth has been funded entirely by client revenue. This isn’t a small lifestyle business, it’s a global agency creating sonic identities deployed across continents. After BrandMusiq created Mastercard’s global sonic identity, the brand was named the number one Audio Brand in the world for three consecutive years, with the sound now active across 2.5+ million “earpoints” globally.
That success unlocked PepsiCo, which recently hired BrandMusiq to create 7Up’s first-ever global sonic identity, launching in India and rolling out worldwide. For these perpetuity buyouts, the investment runs into several hundred thousand dollars.
Most big brands don’t want the hassle of renewing the license every year. They just want to buy it out. When we created the sound of Mastercard globally, it’s a perpetuity buyout, a one-time fee and they own all the rights.
This is the flywheel: land a prestigious client, deliver exceptional work, use that validation to secure the next tier, repeat. Revenue compounds credibility, which compounds more revenue.
The Neurological Advantage
Rajeev’s core thesis is that brands face an “emotional deficit” in the attention economy. His solution is rooted in neuroscience: the human brain processes sound up to 20 times faster than visuals, and auditory signals connect directly to emotional centers.
The data supports this. Research shows advertisements with sonic brand cues are 8.5 times more effective than those with only visual assets. After launching its sonic identity, Mastercard found 77% of customers believed the sound made the brand more trustworthy.
We call it ROE, Return on Emotion. If a brand emotionally connects with its target audience, then in the long run, it definitely adds to salience, recognition, equity, and therefore to brand value.
Rajeev demonstrates this principle live, playing the same melody on his flute at different tempos.
If I take the same piece and raise the tempo, you’ve moved from reflection and nostalgia to happiness and joy, to celebration.
The MUSE Framework
To operationalize his expertise, Rajeev developed MUSE (Musical Strategy Exercise), a proprietary three-step process that transforms subjective creative work into structured strategy. It begins by treating brands as human beings, identifying their emotional essence using Navarasas, the nine aesthetic emotions from Indian classical philosophy.
This systemization allows BrandMusiq to deliver consistent results at scale, a critical capability for justifying premium pricing and competing against legacy players like Sixième Son (Paris, founded 1995) and amp Sound Branding (Munich, serving Mercedes and Uber).
The Market Opportunity
The audio branding services market was valued at $1.42 to $1.68 billion in 2024 and is projected to reach $3.65 to $4.43 billion by 2033, a compound annual growth rate of 10-11%. The growth drivers are clear: audio now accounts for 31% of all media consumption, smart speakers are creating a $40 billion market, and 76% of Americans listen to digital audio regularly.
The explosion of “earpoints” has created BrandMusiq’s growth conditions. A consumer might hear a brand on morning radio, TV news, app notifications, social media reels, YouTube content, retail soundscapes, podcasts, and smart speakers, all in a single day. Each represents an opportunity for consistent sonic reinforcement.
In 2024, the International Advertising Association India Chapter selected BrandMusiq to create their official sonic identity, a powerful validation from the industry’s governing body.
Sonic branding is increasingly viewed not as an optional, nice-to-have creative element, but as a must-have strategic asset for any serious brand.
The AI Strategy
BrandMusiq is developing an AI-powered platform for sonic identity customization, but Rajeev’s approach is measured. For the 7Up project, they used their proprietary AI tool, SoniqScan, to analyze soundtracks and map emotional responses. But AI serves as research and validation, not replacement.
AI can make it sound really good but perhaps too good. And it loses a bit of that emotion. The beauty of hearing an unfiltered, raw voice which is communicating real emotion, that’s very hard to replicate.
The company is betting on a “human-in-the-loop” model, where AI accelerates workflows while core creative strategy remains human-guided. As 27% of music creator revenue could shift to AI by 2028, this positioning balances efficiency with authenticity.
The Founder’s Path
Rajeev’s journey began with a setback. At 17, he was an opening batsman with cricket dreams, but a severe back injury ended that path. His brother went on to play for Karnataka alongside Rahul Dravid. Rajeev discovered the flute.
If I had been a cricketer, I would have stopped playing by now. So, I am glad that I can still play the flute.
He built parallel careers, advertising by day and jazz musician by night, eventually reaching National Creative Director at DDB Mudra. Then came the realization that launched BrandMusiq.
Brandmusiq was born at the intersection of my two lifelong passions, brand building and music.
His advice for founders considering sonic identity is direct.
The earlier the better. Sonic identity takes time to register, just like visual branding. Are you creating a piece of music that Bach and Mozart have written, or are you creating a pop hit that is here today, gone tomorrow?
The Contrarian Model
Raja’s story challenges startup orthodoxy. He built a service business the traditional way: land a client, deliver value, earn the next conversation, compound credibility over time. The fact that he now serves Fortune 500 brands across continents, grew 50%+ last year, and won industry recognition, all without external funding, offers an alternative path.
In service businesses creating new categories, the quality of your first ten clients matters more than your Series A size. Revenue and delivered value create more sustainable foundations than runway and burn rate.
A mogo is the shortest distance between a brand and a consumer’s heart.
As audio consumption grows and attention spans shrink, the market Rajeev created 13 years ago is reaching maturity. And from his desk in Mumbai, one perfectly crafted mogo at a time, he’s proven that some of the most valuable companies are built not by raising the most capital, but by solving real problems for clients willing to pay for the solution.
Listen now!
Other ways to listen:
Your Feedback matters
As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts! Whether it’s about this episode or ideas you’ve been playing around with, shoot me an email at ad@thepodium.in. Your feedback keeps these conversations going, and I’m always up for chatting about your startup ideas too.
Until next time,
Your Host,
Akshay Datt