The Power of Sound Marketing: Connecting Movies and Reality Through Engine Sounds

The 1968 film Bullitt, starring Steve McQueen, features one of the most legendary car chase scenes in movie history. Behind the wheel of a Ford Mustang, McQueen races through the streets of San Francisco. What thrilled the audience was not just the visuals, but also the distinctive roar of the engine.
In 2008, Ford set out to revive this cinematic legend with a commemorative model: the Mustang Bullitt. Their goal was to bring the movie’s world into reality through sound. This is where the essence of sound marketing comes into play.

👉If you’d like to listen to how the sounds compare, check out my video. https://youtu.be/dRfvfb-M7EI

Recreating a Movie’s World Through Sound

The sound design for the 2008 Mustang Bullitt was led by Ford’s NVH (Noise, Vibration, Harshness) engineer, Shawn Carney. As Joel Beckerman notes in his book The Sound Boom (2013), Carney faced three major challenges:

1. Differences in vehicle structure

A Bullitt model had also been released in 2001, but the 2008 version had a very different body design, requiring a complete rework of the sound.

2. Noise regulations

Simply reproducing the booming sound from the movie was not an option due to legal restrictions, so compromises had to be made while still capturing the essence.

3. Movie sound vs. real sound

Surprisingly, the low, rumbling sound in the Bullitt movie wasn’t the actual car — it was an artificial sound created by the film’s sound engineers. Carney didn’t just want to copy that sound. Instead, he wanted to reproduce the emotions that arose when watching the film.

As he put it [quoted in The Sound Boom]:
“I think of the original movie as a Rolling Stones song,
You’re never going to invent another Rolling Stones song, but some of the
covers are pretty sweet.”
In other words, his job was to craft an engine sound that worked as a cover song.

A Sound That Thrilled Owners

The finished Mustang Bullitt captivated fans around the world. Beckerman cites several voices from the International Mustang Bullitt Owners Club. Below is one comment, paraphrased for brevity, and another quoted directly:

Paraphrased from The Sound Boom:

“The moment I sat in the driver’s seat at
the dealership and started the engine, I was blown away. Right then, I knew—
this was it.”

Quoted from The Sound Boom:

“I don’t think you’re ever going to get anything
modern-day to sound like an old-school V8, but this definitely does remind me
of it.”

It was a moment when sound transported people directly into the film’s world.

Japan vs. America: Different Ears, Different Tastes

However, such low-pitched engine rumble is not always embraced in Japan, even among sports car enthusiasts. The difference lies in cultural preferences. Take Harley-Davidson’s iconic exhaust note, for example. A musician once told me:

“That sound is connected to the movement of American bison herds. Just like those animals roaming across vast plains, Harleys thunder across the roads. It’s a uniquely American experience.”

In other words, the love of deep rumbling sounds is tied to America’s expansive landscapes and cultural backdrop—something quite different from Japan.

The Essence of Sound Marketing

From the case of the Mustang Bullitt, we can see the true nature of sound marketing:

* It’s not about copying sounds, but about recreating the emotions and world they represent.

* It requires sensitivity to cultural context, because what resonates in one culture may not in another.

Sound is more than a technical feature—it’s a mirror of culture and a powerful tool for shaping experience. It brings cinematic worlds to life and moves people on a deeply emotional level.

References

• Beckerman, Joel. The Sound Boom: How Sound Transforms the Way We
  Think, Feel, and Buy. Mariner Books, 2013.

Next Step: Experience It Yourself

Want to hear the difference for yourself? In my video, I share a short comparison between the Bullitt movie sound and the 2008 Mustang Bullitt engine note, along with a quick explanation of why this matters for sound marketing.