Audio

The challenge: To retain the long established brand values of Fortnum & Mason and integrate a new sound system that would help captivate their customers, all within a listed historic building.

We had to be delicate when considering the existing period layout and décor because the design and deployment of this particular sound system offered several challenges. Although there were many logistical and physical constraints, we knew we had a great opportunity to stretch boundaries with our design.

The project commenced in the early summer of 2013 and our brief was to provide floor by floor sound coverage across all five trading floors, with each floor being unique in its requirements. With the entire system controlled from the sixth floor, overnight installation works were required from 9pm until 10am each working day.

When matching the brand with a manufacturer whose quality and heritage complimented that of Fortnum & Mason, we decided to opt for the Bose Pro specification because, for more than four decades, Bose have developed speakers and electronics to meet the demanding requirements of professional audio applications.

The design incorporates an existing set of external speakers and two wireless microphone systems, ensuring each floor and zone within the floor had its own music source and volume control selectors. This gave the music profiling team total flexibility on playlists and soundscape.

Throughout the project, we worked to retain all that was marvellous about the building’s Georgian past, yet created a 21st-century shopping experience by deploying a high quality sound system that was amplified by our wealth of musical understanding. From Bizet to Vitamin String Quartet, the customers are treated to traditional classical tracks with a modern twist.

As the sweeping spiral staircase soars through the four-storey building and light floods down from a central glass dome, shoppers receive both a visual and an aural treat. So the next time you visit Fortum & Mason, remember that the audio feast you’re sure to enjoy is part of the OnBrand experience.

“The sound lures customers’ attention to the merchandise
and makes the store a harmonious and creative experience,
while stunning the senses with artistic drama.”
– Paul Symes, Fortnum & Mason

OnBrand Group had been asked to evaluate the current in-store music experience at one of the UK’s leading fashion chains.

They had been using commercial music for many years but had yet to find a playlist that suited their target audience, staff and branding image. Our team visited several stores in the South East of England and the feedback from the in-store evaluations had been very interesting. We interviewed a number of staff, store managers and customers and thought we would share our findings here.

The Experience – The feedback regarding the current music was fairly unanimous. Everyone felt that it was very boring, not uplifting, repetitive and didn’t suit the brand at all. One member of staff said: “We have no idea who these artists are, so dislike them even more.”

The main criticism with the music was that it was far too dark and underground and not what customers would expect to hear when walking into this trendy fashion store. When interviewing customers they generally thought it was fairly inoffensive, but perhaps it could be a little more current with artists such as Florence and the Machine or Beyonce, etc. One customer questioned actually went so far as to say: “It’s really gloomy and it would make me want to kill myself if I worked there.”

We find that whilst people will always have their own perceptions of music there was no consistency for the brand in question. A customer said that “If I had a blindfold on, I wouldn’t know what kind of shop I was in.” At one store the staff kept having to come off the shop floor to keep changing a CD and then repeatedly back to the system to keep skipping tracks that they disliked saying “This music is a balance of coolness, but there are some weird remixes which is annoying” and then said they argued with other members of staff about whose turn it was to skip these tracks!

Finally we asked customers the question – If there was bad music or no music playing, would it make you leave quicker? Two answers to this question were very telling: “If the wrong music was playing I would probably just go elsewhere” & “If a song irritates me it puts me in a bad mood, then I’ll leave the store.”

OnBrand Music Solutions

Being a solution provider rather than a product supplier enables OnBrand Music to tailor relevant music and maximise the customer audio experience. As we spend time on site getting to know the brand and people we gain an insight into the frustrations of staff and management too. This helps us design the right music profile and work from a selection of tracks that we put on an auditory mood board, which are eventually worked into a non-repetitive and profiled playlist. We are proud to be working with many leading retail and fashion brands and theme our playlists to each brand according to events and can schedule genres at specific times throughout the year depending on their needs. This ensures that the audio experience is always personal and up-to-date.