Launched in 2020, this immersive audio startup began with a bold mission: change the way venues approach immersive audio by making them acoustically flexible.
In a small industry led by a few giants, the goal in our work together was to create brand awareness that would garner the attention of early adopters and then to the masses. They desired to grow their dealer network and user base, building awareness with a new brand. In May 2023, 18 months after the rebrand, Venueflex was acquired by Fulcrum Acoustic.
We positioned the company as a stewardship-focused solution which appealed heavily to the house of worship market and performing arts theaters alike.
In our time with the Chief Strategy Officer and Chief Technology Officer, it was clear that Venueflex took a unique approach to the market, but they did not know how to communicate it. While other companies insisted on venues spending more money on loudspeakers, Venueflex urged that the room needed to be appropriately balanced acoustically. The founders of Venueflex valued "stewardship of the room" so that any speaker company would sound better in the venue, and not just overspending on loudspeakers. We needed Venueflex to be appealing to venue and business owners and mix engineers, without creating tension with loudspeaker brands. Venueflex needed to be positioned as a tool that loudspeaker companies and acoustical designers would use to solve sound issues in large venues.
We created a campaign for Venueflex centered around four words: "Fix the room first." The phrase caught like wildfire throughout the audio engineering community: when you fix the room's acoustics first, every speaker company sounds better in the room. The Venueflex Dealer Network began to use the language with their own clients, and found a lot of success in its simple messaging. The campaign was so successful that it earned the attention of several grammy-winning artists.
We led Venueflex through a brand overhaul that included new strategy for visual identity, web, social, conferences, and a B2B strategy that doubled their dealer network. We also renamed their product offering and launched a new customer journey. Within 18 months, their flagship digital signal processor sales grew by over 200%. Other highlights included three new product launches and giving away a truckload worth of gelato (ask us about that one). Through our work, Venueflex was able to create a tribe of loyal audio engineers, architects, and venue directors on a mission to "Fix the room first."
