Komsan Chiyadis
GrabFood delivery-partner, Thailand
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GRRRRAAABB! Listen to Grab’s new ‘sonic logo’
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July 11, 2023
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Regional
If you’re in a food court in Southeast Asia, don’t be surprised if you catch a chorus singing “GRRRAAABBB!”
You’re hearing our new sonic logo. Every time a Grab merchant-partner receives a new order, their devices will ring out with the new notification sound, instead of the generic alert that they used to hear.
The bright, harmonised vocal was designed to cut through the din of a noisy market or food court.
And it was created kind of by chance.
Hear it:
An accidental opportunity
The team was researching a way to improve notifications because GrabFood merchants were letting orders sit for several minutes before realising that one had come in. This often created a ripple effect where delivery-partners and, eventually, consumers had longer wait times.
We learned that one issue why merchant-partners did not prepare an order as soon as they could, was because they missed the order notification sound.
Many small-scale Grab merchant-partners use their own mobile phones to take orders, and some needed to be shown how to turn up the ringer volume to make sure they didn’t miss an order coming in.
But besides these technical issues, the team heard an opportunity to create something special. Some food vendors said they tended to lose the Grab notification sound in the sea of other notifications that their phones made all day from messaging apps and the like.
All the while, we were using generic tones for the notification sound. A custom notification sound could help notify the merchant to act faster, as well as carry the Grab branding.
Why not use a branded notification sound and gain brand awareness when our merchant receives new orders?
Grab worked with a studio in Malaysia to develop this sonic logo. The aim was for it to be distinctive, and be easy to recall and sing back. It had to reflect Grab’s brand identity, and cut through noisy environments on a mobile device.
What’s in a song?
For the music geeks, this part’s for you. The jingle opens “big”, with bright and multi-layered vocal harmonies, meant to create a human element that is distinctive from other synthetic notification sounds.
The rolled “R” of the Grab sound also helped to inject “extra playfulness”, the marketing team said.
The core melodic motif is created with a mellow chime, mimicking Asian instruments such as the angklung. The tonality echoes instruments we hear throughout the region, and were also meant to recall the sound of someone knocking on a door. This is meant to connect the listener with Grab’s delivery service.
The staccato melody helps to drive a picture of efficiency and speed, while keeping it simple and easy to remember.
The two notes at the end provide a final touch to help the entire jingle cut through noisy environments.
We started rolling out the new order notification sound with version 4.60 of the GrabMerchant app, and it’s now available across the region.
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Komsan Chiyadis
GrabFood delivery-partner, Thailand
COVID-19 has dealt an unprecedented blow to the tourism industry, affecting the livelihoods of millions of workers. One of them was Komsan, an assistant chef in a luxury hotel based in the Srinakarin area.
As the number of tourists at the hotel plunged, he decided to sign up as a GrabFood delivery-partner to earn an alternative income. Soon after, the hotel ceased operations.
Komsan has viewed this change through an optimistic lens, calling it the perfect opportunity for him to embark on a fresh journey after his previous job. Aside from GrabFood deliveries, he now also picks up GrabExpress jobs. It can get tiring, having to shuttle between different locations, but Komsan finds it exciting. And mostly, he’s glad to get his income back on track.
