Exploration, Strategy and Innovation Services

Exploration

We believe in breaking down barriers between brands and the people who matter most to them.

We tirelessly dig deep to uncover what people really do and why they do it. And we deploy innovative methods to get as close as possible to people and their lives.

Generational Research

It's said you shouldn't have a favorite child. At The Sound we believe the same to be true of generations.

Cultural Insights

The uncanny ability to see patterns in larger cohorts of people, cultural shifts percolating on the edges and values that make a country tick.

Journey Mapping

Empathizing and understanding the walk from the beginning to the end of an experience helps a brand identify when and where it can resonate with people.

Category Audit

How a category communicates is the first step to understanding how your brand should think and behave.

Segment Discovery

Quantitative data helps identify and define frameworks ideal for grouping people, motivations and behaviors.

JTBD Discovery

‘Job to Be Done’ aren't products or services, an occasion, task or activity. They're the motivations and one of the most powerful research tools for brand strategy and product innovation.

Innovation

We believe that innovation emerges at the nexus of market and cultural opportunity and the problems people need solving.

We imagine and design strategic ideas that inspire brands to find new possibilities with positive commercial impact

Innovation Workshops

At some point in every brands life… it needs an infusion of energy or ideas. Turning to a workshop setting is the perfect solution.

Idea Screening

Being able to get a quantitative pulse check on a large set of product ideas is sometimes precisely the analysis you need.

Brand Elasticity

We start with a brand's anchor today and then imagining its future. That can’t happen overnight so we map a plan from A to B with the imperatives you need to nail at each stage.

Concept Development

We love writing product concepts that don't suck. No seriously. It's fun to us! We've seen a lot so we know how to spot the good from the bad.

Pipeline Development

We don’t believe ‘if you build it they will come.’ We do believe the best innovation lives at the intersection of possibility and problems.

Ideation Sprints

We understand the realities of the business world and know that time isn't always on our side. So when you need speed... we sprint.

White Space Illumination

Sometimes a brand wants a line of sight into the much farther out future. We use qualitative exploration and quantitative validation to add rigor.

Trend Trekking

Insights and ideas are rarely revealed from behind a desk, so we hit the road when we want to glimpse the future.

Strategy

We believe in deeply understanding nuances to help brands sharpen their reason for being.

We guide brands towards the truth of what they genuinely stand for… and how it can be reflected in everything they do.

Strategy Boot Camp

Using a combination of convergent and divergent thinking, we drive teams to consensus building and decision making in a consolidated time frame.

Messaging and Comms

Getting the right message to the right people at the right time is every Brands strategic nirvana. The Sound knows how to draw out and listen for nuance and insight that defines what a brand should say to whom and when.

Creative and Comms Optimization

Some agencies ‘test’ ideas. We believe in using consumer research to optimize creative and communications to better delivery on your brand strategy.

Brand Refresh

A fresh perspective feels good. Especially if the old perspective is holding you back. We start by getting to the heart of what people have always loved and then reimagine how that can play in a new cultural context.

Semiotics Assessment

In every category there are implicit and explicit codes and cues that shape how consumers mentally define the space. Understanding what the codes and cues mean is called semiotics and we like to employ the principles of this theory to understanding dynamics of a category.

Architecture and Guardrails

The Sound often steps in to guide teams through a series of brand building exercises… taking the time to rigorously build equity elements for your brand.

Purpose Development

We help brands discover Purpose by examining consumers and culture, the category and the company to see what sits at the nexus, revealing insightful and inspiring reasons for being.

Portfolio Strategy

Having an entire portfolio of products in a single category requires clarity on each brands objective, target audience, and its role in their lives.

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