Given the fact that sound travels faster than 700 mph and is processed quicker than light, at TreBrand we believe that sound can make a difference in the world. We also believe there is a balance that needs to be struck between creativity and strategy. To that end, audio branding is our way of helping brands think critically and use the power of sound to build brand equity.
With that in mind, our founder and chief noisemaker Jordan Stevens set off to find businesses and professionals who use sound as a key element in building their brand. Of course he couldn’t stop at just finding the companies and the people who run them, he had to learn more. In the coming weeks, we’ll feature interviews he had with the marketing mavericks who were kind enough to share their insights on how they use sound in their business.
We hope that by sharing this information you’ll understand the true power of sound and how you can apply it to your business. And hopefully, you’ll help the world sound better one brand at a time.
A special thanks goes out to everyone who shared their insights with us so freely. We appreciate your candid conversations and visions of how the world sounds.
Without any further ado, here is the first interview in our series called Marketing Mavericks of Audio Branding.
Interview with Tom Trones, Cisco Sytems
Cisco Systems is the a worldwide leader in networking and communication technology. Headquartered in San Jose, California, Cisco is home to over to over 65,000 employees globally and serves a wide variety of markets through many innovative products.
Today, I’m talking with Tom Trones who is an audio identity lead for one of Cisco’s business units. His role makes him responsible for how a Cisco product sounds across a multitude of channels and product lines. He ensures that all Cisco products sound like a Cisco product. Tom will also be a speaker at this year’s Audio Branding Congress in Moscow.
Jordan Stevens (JS): Tell me a bit about your role at Cisco Systems?
Tom Trones (TT): I was originally hired as an acoustics, software and signal processing engineer for our video conferencing systems but an opportunity to unify the audio identity for our collaboration products opened up. I think the mix between technology and artistic creativity is perfect for me, and my background as a musician, composer and producer led me to becoming the Audio Identity Lead for this business unit. We have a wide portfolio of products in telepresence systems, UC, IM clients, IP phones, Webex and more, so it is important that the user can jump from one to the other and still get a common experience of using a Cisco product.
This is perfect for me, as I can leverage my background as an engineer, musician and music technologist. Last year we made the call to keep the strategy development and production internally. We now have music and sound production facilities at the Lysaker, Norway site.
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