soundlounge were invited to present at both VSM (Vision Sound Music) and Ogilvy Labs – two brilliant conferences about sound, music and branding in the same week.

VSM was held at the Queen Elizabeth Hall on the Southbank on what was one of the hottest weekends of the year, who could predict? Those people who fought their way through the kids’ water fountain and into the cool halls were treated to a 3 day fest of presentations, experiential sessions and then, if that was not enough, the evenings were filled with some great musical performances.  The aim of VSM was to examine every aspect of how sound works with a picture, whether that was for commercials, films or games. One of the strokes of brilliance of the organizers was to have a music event in the evening that reflected the day’s activities,  hence, the LPO playing the music from Video Game Heroes. To date 68,000 visits to YouTube to relive the event. Keep your eyes open for the next VSM event- definitely one for the diary.

Ogilvy Labs Live  on the following Friday went down the B2B route – a straw poll during the morning revealed an equal divide of clients, agency and music industry. From the time that we all entered the foyer down at Canary Wharf, it felt exciting.  The walls behind the registration displayed photos from the brilliant book “Pop Charts” by Paul Copperwaite  – if you haven’t seen these, and love music, then these posters are inspirational and genius.

Courtesy of David Coxon

The Ogilvy format opted for fast TED style talks of 15 mins, which kept the speakers in check and enabled the organizing team to cover a whole raft of topics. From a really lively talk from Eskimo Live  on the  ‘do’s and don’ts’ of music sponsorships, to a very amusing break down of the music industry’s revenue streams by the PRS. Thank you Will (Page) ,I never knew that an economist could be so entertaining .Ogilvy also organized music showcases, that were held around the offices. From Sophie Ellis Bexter to KIDDA, visitors were certainly put through their audio paces. Rumor has it that Sophie insisted on the same sound rig as she used at Glastonbury. I had left the building by that stage so can’t comment!,

soundlounge were talking about the importance of brand sound fit, which apparently had some of the most tweeted comments and stats at both events:


A big thank you to Andrew Missingham for founding VSM and the team at Ogilvy, Nicole Yershon and Tara Austin, for the energy and insight to organize what is fast becoming a hot topic. Ruth Simmons, CEO, soundlounge