BVG Audio Branding

Berlin skyline with the television tower

Berlin is all ears!

The BVG has developed a consistent acoustic brand identity for the first time. Alongside a new voice, this includes all sound elements such as the sound logo and various signal tones in vehicles and stations.

Setting a brand-new tone.

How does it sound, then? In the past, the BVG used different voices and signal tones in vehicles and at stations. This created an acoustic patchwork quilt without any real recognition value. We didn’t want to hear it any more. And now we don’t have to, because we have given the buses and trains, stations, and anywhere else you hear the BVG a characteristic new brand sound. After extensive market research, this was developed alongside BVG employees from a range of corporate sectors, accessibility experts

and members of the client council. In vehicles and on platforms, the voice and sounds were intensively tested with all those involved – in particular to ensure their accessibility – and were configured using scientific methods to ensure they work optimally for everyone. You can hear the result: together, the new voice and new sounds form the first integrated application for acoustic communication from Germany’s largest local transport company – or in other words: the BVG sounds great.

NEW SOUND

It sounds just like us.

Around 3.7 million people from 190 countries live in Berlin. The German capital represents a variety of ways of life, cultures and gender identities. The BVG brings this variety together each day. We are by their sides as people make their way through this colourful metropolis. And now you can hear it, too. Against the acoustic backdrop of the city, all Berliners make up our choir. We recorded countless voices and sounds in Berlin for this purpose and combined them with an instrument that comes closest to the human voice: the bass clarinet. This diversity of voices was a key component of our sound concept. During implementation, a contemporary and emotional brand sound developed that represents Berlin in all its diversity. The new sound – starting with gongs and signal tones and moving on to the sound logo and telephone hold music – is now playing at many BVG touchpoints, and will soon be heard at all of them.

Photo by Philippa. The voice of the BVG.

NEW VOICE

Finally a clear message!

The whole of Berlin is listening to Philippa. She now calls the shots for the capital’s public transport as the new voice of the BVG. The Berlin dubbing artist and actor Philippa Jarke stood out in a multistage casting process with more than a thousand candidates and drew admiration with her unique voice and strong personality. She recorded around 4,200 audio files for all stops and other announcements during more than 100 hours spent in the studio. Within the scope of the “disruption information management” project, we also digitised Philippa’s voice. Half of the project budget was financed by subsidies from the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure within the context of the “Digitisation of communal transport systems” funding guidelines.