Internal Branding: Can Sound Rebuild Company Culture?
Ask most chief executives what the pandemic did to their company and culture comes up fast. Working from home kept businesses running, but the shared rituals, the in-jokes and the water cooler moments thinned out. That raises a question few internal branding plans ask: what could sound do about it?
John Smeddle, our creative head, takes it on for LBB. Here is our summary and our view.
Why music is the glue
John’s argument starts with something older than companies. Music has drawn people together since before there were communities, because it is honest. It either moves you or it doesn’t, and when you see someone else react to the same sound, you want to know what else you share.
In an office without a water cooler, he suggests audio may be one of the few tools left that can bind people into something that feels like a team again.
A culture the team chooses
He is careful not to offer a one-size answer. Every company communicates differently, so the application will differ. The vision is the easy part: a closer, more connected culture.
The detail we like most is his last line. This would be a culture triggered by the workers, not programmed by the managers. Read John’s full piece on LBB.
Our sonic identity for Mohammed Bin Rashid Library.
View case study ↗What internal sonic branding looks like
Most sonic identities are built for customers. However, the same system can work inside the building: the sound that opens the all-hands call, the hold music for your own staff, the cue that marks a win, the playlist that becomes a team in-joke.
Done well, it never feels like corporate wallpaper. Instead, it gives a scattered team a few shared moments that sound like them, which is exactly what remote work took away.
Our original music for IsDB 50th Anniversary.
View case study ↗ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE… AND OUR NEWSLETTER.
