PRESS RELEASE APRIL 20TH 2004

SOUND IS THE NEW DIFFERENTIATOR

Recent explosive growth in academic research into the effects of sound (both music and noise) is set to translate into business for The Sound Agency, the new company formed by Julian Treasure, the former Chairman of Just Customer Communication. "Most organisations invest significant amounts of time and money each year in how they look (branding, advertising, product design, premises and so on), but never consider how they sound. This is strange because all the research shows that sound profoundly affects people, for good or ill," says Treasure. The vast majority of the sound generated today by business is negative or even harmful in effect. Examples include aircraft, traffic, construction and industrial noise; loud, stressful places of work; public places with terrible acoustics; and force-feeding customers inappropriate music in retail and catering locations. "It's not that anyone is setting out to create bad sound," says Treasure. "Business has simply been unconsciously generating sound pollution. But the good news is, once you start consciously designing appropriate and productive soundscapes, it costs little extra to make your customers and employees very happy. " Citing an increasing flow of requests about audio branding to advertising agencies, Treasure believes organisations are starting to wake up to the power of sound, and to see the benefits of consciously creating effective audio brands, productive soundscapes for both employees and customers, and positive aural customer journeys. "Starting today, use of sound will be a major competitive differentiator as organisations rush to claim this largely virgin territory," says Treasure. "The Sound Agency is one of a new breed of agencies combining the skills of sound with knowledge of both marketing and business. The benefits for clients of applying this skill mix will be increased sales, increased productivity and increased customer satisfaction. For the rest of us, the world will just start to sound better."

The Sound Agency is the UK's first full-service strategic sound consultancy. Using state of the art technology, a wealth of research and the knowledge of leading expert consultants in the UK and the US, the company offers sound auditing, as well as the removal of negative sound (usually noise) and the creation and installation of positive sound (combining natural sounds, composed and generative music and psychoacoustic techniques to create nourishing and productive soundscapes). Julian Treasure sold Just Customer Communication to Interpublic in 2002, having formed the company in 1988 and established it as one of the UK's leading contract publishing operations. Treasure was a director of the Periodical Publishers Association from 1995-2003; the launch chairman of the UK Digital Content Forum in 1999, and chairman of the Association of Publishing Agencies from 1995-97 and of PPAinteractive from 1999-2001. In 2002 the PPA recognised his contribution to the publishing industry by giving him its Chairman's Award.

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