Empathy in Design
The Sound of Peter Schmidt Group
For Peter Schmidt Group, one of Europe's renowned design agencies, the elephant has been central to the agency brand, representing its ethos: 'Empathy for the brands of the future.'
In 2024, the agency repositioned itself. The new appearance, driven by the idea of 'amplified imagination,' honours Peter Schmidt Group's origins and fascination with emerging technologies while still keeping human creativity at the forefront.
Our job was to develop a sonic branding that complements the design agency's visual identity, using sound as an 'amplifier' to enhance their new positioning.
Empathy in Design: Sonic Branding
Elephants communicate with low-frequency sounds, known as 'rumbles,' which can travel up to 7 kilometers and are partly below the human hearing range at frequencies under 20 Hz. Dr. Angela Stöger-Horwath, biologist and elephant researcher from the University of Vienna, provided TRO with recordings of elephant rumbles that she recorded during a research expedition at Addo National Park. These recordings served as the source material for composing the sound assets for Peter Schmidt Group.
"The sonic identity of Peter Schmidt Group is the first to reference infrasonic sounds in nature. What is empathetic about the sound concept is not only that elephants are empathetic creatures, but also that we 'deeply listen' to them. Nature holds many frequencies that go far beyond the limits of human perception—paying attention to them also means reconsidering how we position ourselves as part of a wider ecosystem."– Inken Bornholdt, Creative Director
Agency Partnership with TRO
The new sound identity now shapes the brand experience of Peter Schmidt Group and marks the beginning of an extensive partnership between TRO and Peter Schmidt Group. In the near future, we aim to collaborate on crafting immersive audiovisual brand identities for other clients.
The Sonic Branding of Peter Schmidt Group was awarded with the Corporate Design Price and the Transform Award Europe.