Inca Kola

Sonic Branding - Case Study

Client: Inca Kola
Agency: Epoch Design
Sonic Branding: Echoic Audio

Sonic Branding

Peru's best-loved jingle and the tap of a bottle, rebuilt as a sonic system for a new generation.

"Whatever the touchpoint, we could guarantee that Inca Kola would sound iconic."
Kimberley Robinson. Senior Account Manager

The Challenge
Modernise a cherished national memory without breaking it.

Inca Kola has been a Peruvian icon since 1935 and part of The Coca-Cola Company’s portfolio since 1999. As creative agency Epoch refreshed the visual brand for a new generation, it needed a sonic identity to match. Inca Kola already owned two famous sounds: ‘La Hora Inca Kola’ – a radio jingle that lives in Peru’s collective memory, and the tap of a bottle at the table.

Both were loved. Neither worked as a modern brand system, and neither was reaching younger Peruvians.

Inca Kola's sonic heritage

'La Hora Inca Kola' - a radio jingle that lives in Peru's collective memory

Each ad would begin with the tap of a bottle at the table

Our Approach
Echoic led the sonic brand development from research and strategy through creative routes to final composition and production. We worked alongside Epoch to run workshops directly with The Coca-Cola Company’s LATAM brand leaders.

Our research started with Peru itself: its Andean, Afro-Peruvian and criollo traditions and its contemporary scenes. We found a hybrid culture whose identity comes from many traditions meeting. That became the sonic strategy, Tradition in Motion: heritage kept alive by moving it forward.

Recording remotely with Peruvian musicians on charango, cajón, cajita, quijada and guitar, we paired traditional instruments with contemporary production styles. The sonic logo, four notes tapped out on real Inca Kola bottles, take inspiration from the heritage melody in the famous ‘La Hora’ jingle, plus mimics the rhythmic tapping of bottles that has opened its adverts for generations.

On its own, a tap is just a tap. But with its melody tapping directly into national consciousness, it can only be Inca Kola.

What We Delivered

A four-note sonic logo performed on Inca Kola bottles.
Bespoke brand anthems for different brand occasions, each built on the logo’s DNA
Social cutdowns and sound effects
Sonic branding guidelines, so every touchpoint sounds like Inca Kola

Outcomes