Founded in 1924 to help consumers find nearby companies, service providers and private individuals, Das Örtliche is a German landmark for local searches. Its long-standing offering makes the directory medium renowned within the nation, especially given the omnipresence of its jingle centred around the vocal hook "Ohne Ö fehlt Dir was" (roughly translated to “Without Ö you're missing something”). To this date Das Örtliche maintains its status as the most widely used free telecommunications directory in Germany because it recognises the crucial need to remain relevant with the public. This formula also applies to sonic branding efforts by the company, which is why Das Örtliche entrusted HearDis! with the task of revamping its audio identity to be recognised as a modern brand admired and trusted by German folks.

Just as certain font styles or colour palettes may move in and out of trend, so do features in music and sound. When it comes to branding, companies have to be able to maintain their authenticity and run with market trends to keep their image modern. As the basic jingle of Das Örtliche already benefited from a strong vocal hook, our work on the sound logo first focused on the delivery of the singing alone: we scouted singers and arranged voice castings and recordings for 20 talents to identify a fresh brand voice suited to Das Örtliche.

On top of that, we carried out a subtle yet crucial modification to the core melody of the sound logo to both facilitate the integration of audio elements in digital media marketing activities as well as making it sound more modern and accessible.