Petzl, the company that makes climbing gear, recently released their new Ange carabiner line.

And while there are a lot of neat things about them if you’re a climber, they’ve done some really great things that we as business owners can learn from.

Not only can you watch a video introducing the new Ange carabiner in real world use (if free climbing the Grand Capucin in the Mont-Blanc massif is “real world” enough for you!)

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZ0mlV4V1G8[/youtube]

But they have also released the unique sound of the carabiner gate as a ring-tone for your cell phone.

The click of a closing carabiner can be part of the communication between members of a climbing team. It’s even more true on long routes, when it is the climber isn’t visible or when it’s difficult to talk to one another. The sound of the carabiner can signal to the climber that an out-of-sight carabiner is clipped. It can also signal to the belayer that the climber will be needing slack soon (as when a bolt or peice of gear is clipped) or that the climber has clipped the rope.

Just like the click of a closing carabiner is important to climbers, the unique sound of your company or product is important as well.

There are two things we can learn from Petzl:

1. Audio is an important part of your brand, and,

2. Have you thought about the fun ways you could highlight the unique sounds of your products?

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xZ9sYCYdyU[/youtube]