The idea was to define the sound of the whole Shell brand through melody. We set out to unify all Shell’s communication using a single brand theme that can flex and change across time, territory and touchpoint.

The selected composer, Tom Howe, worked extremely closely with our in-house senior music producer, to shape a memorable and flexible theme. Following two months of iterative revisions, the piece was shared with the orchestrator David Butterworth, who transformed the computer-generated mp3 into a score for full orchestra.

The Sound of Shell was recorded in Studio 1 at Abbey Road, by senior recording engineer, Andrew Dudman (Gravity, Fellowship of the Ring). Andrew and his team used the Decca tree microphone, (placed above the conductor’s head), to record the majority of the sound. The Sound of Shell was mixed and mastered by Andrew at Abbey Road.

The full Sound of Shell, accompanying edits and sonic identity formed the beginnings of the Shell Music Library. The library forms part of Shell’s Global Music Platform that has now been established at a global scale.

In March 2015 Shell launched a global campaign to introduce the Sound of Shell to its 70+ markets.

Markets requested new and existing musical pieces for use in over 190 communications worldwide, not including use on radio and online.

The asset library consists of over 50 adaptations of the original piece in a wide variety of genres and styles, which can be used by any Shell business, product or service.

The five-note Shell Sonic Pecten mnemonic, typically used to accompany the visual Shell Pecten logo, has a small number of variants, in order to deliver a strong and consistent sign off to all communications.

Since the launch we have been delighted to see the Sound of Shell widely embraced and used successfully in over 60 corporate films and videos already; TV and radio commercials for its sub-brands such as Shell V-Power and Helix; and at least 30 major events globally.