Interview by CB News and published here on April 21, 2020
Week 2 of quarantine…CB News is conducting a series of professional interviews within the communication industry, that began last tuesday march 17. How to “sound right”, LAURENT COCHINI knows just the right tune to sound right . Here’s what he has to say about sonic solutions.
How is the agency ? Your network?
The agency is doing well, thank you. The health of everyone has been our first priority, of course, and due to our already international organization, with about 40 people across 6 countries, we were able to quickly implement a work from home structure for everyone and continue to find sonic solutions for our clients. Thanks to technology, we maintain team and client meetings and can move forward with all projects. To keep up our morale, we view this time as an opportunity to re-evaluate objectives and focus on ideas that we may have been putting off. We are also fortunate to have had lots of client activity in 2019, both in France and abroad, which will help us weather the crisis. That being said, we will of course remain vigilant and monitor the situation as it unfolds.
What have you done to be able to continue client work?
Our creative team was able to quickly set-up quality satellite home studios in order to continue to produce creative sonic solutions for our clients and partners, especially for TV, radio and digital campaigns. We also have a profound network of voice actors, mainly through The Voice, and know which talent has remote recording capabilities. Adapting to the situation is really what our clients need from us.
Is there a chance that sonic branding might be more even more powerful as a communication tool at a time like this?
To us, it has always been a powerful tool, but perhaps the current crisis emphasizes this power and the importance of sonic branding. Brands clearly need to find their role in society to survive, which is very obvious right now, and which requires brand assets that are both functional and emotional. With the right sonic branding partner and sonic solution, sonic assets can do that. Right now people are spending hours in front of a TV, listening to the radio, using vocal assistants and surfing social media as they try to avoid boredom. Is your brand sound an asset across those touchpoints? Or are you counting on your visuals alone to do all the work ? We imagine the brands who have already invested in their sonic identity and strategy will be better understood, both during and post-crisis. Brands re-evaluating budgets would find a strong advantage in considering sound and voice.
How can your agency or your industry be useful to society?
Sixième Son donates services to NPOs and organizations that focus on the betterment of society and helping those in need. As a sonic branding agency and as an industry, we understand that music brings people together and transcends geographic and social barriers. For 2020, we already have two projects in mind. One is to support an association that provides auditory systems to people for free. This is perhaps obvious for a sonic branding agency, but it is not only to share music, but to help relieve the social isolation and lack of opportunity that deafness can cause. The second initiative is to support One Million Guitars, an association that distributes guitars to schools in low-income neighborhoods all over the world. Introducing music to children provides structure as well as hope for the future.
Click here to read the French article on CB News