Introducing Influence Society Collective Member: Bespoke Sound
The Influence Society Collective is a new model for digital marketing agencies in travel and hospitality, built collaboratively by the world’s leading consultants, freelancers, and micro-agencies.
Our first member is Bespoke Sound, a Music Identity Studio based in Los Angeles, designing custom playlists and audio experiences for hotels and hospitality brands around the world. We sat down with Bespoke Sound’s Founder, Clay Bassford, to chat about their mission and why they joined The Collective.
What is Bespoke Sound?
Bespoke Sound is what I call a Music Identity Studio. We work like a creative agency focusing on the sense of sound, with the goal to help hospitality businesses enhance their brand and guest experience. Our main offering is custom-designed longform playlists for common spaces, created for clients by leading DJs and musicians from around the world, but we also offer other related music, sound, and experiential services. The idea is that lifestyle and boutique brands put so much effort into how their spaces look, they should also think carefully about how they sound.
What’s your background?
I have two parallel backgrounds: One as a musician, songwriter, producer, and DJ, working in New York, Berlin, Copenhagen, and now LA. The other as a copywriter and marketing strategist for travel tech startups and established travel companies. So I have this experience working closely with hoteliers and hospitality people, but also as a writer and musician.
I brought these two skill sets together in Bespoke Sound, using my creative expertise in combination with the hard quantitative requirements of good marketing work.
Ultimately, I’m really inspired by helping clients create a uniquely special experience for their guests. It’s about that special atmosphere, designing vibes, if you will.
What do you like about Influence Society and The Collective?
I really like Influence Society’s vision. They are laser-focused on what’s around the corner. They are the first to do many things that are obvious home-runs for hotels and cut all the fluff and lock-in that the industry doesn’t need. It’s hard to argue with an agency that does things better with more flexibility. And then on top of that, Seb is just the nicest guy, and his vision is an inclusive one where people help each other to build a more collaborative industry. I see the Collection as an extension of that, and it’s something I can really get behind. It perfectly matches what we’re trying to do at Bespoke Sound: Offer something that is just way better than what is currently out there, and be nice people, too.
And what do you think about The Collective being a remote, collaborative, sort of collective? Why do you think it’s the way of the future?
I’ve personally been a big fan of remote work for the last 5–10 years, trying it out whenever possible. In fact, in the last 1.5 years since launching Bespoke Sound, I’ve been 100% remote. It, of course, takes some adjustments, but many times, the benefits far outweigh the cons.
For The Collective, specifically, it’s a great way to create a network that can be connected and help each other from all over the world. It makes complete sense. Life is increasingly digital, and this is a way to create more meaning, not less, while keeping the flexibility of a remote network.
And how does it work? How do you combine your strengths and what added value does it bring to the client?
I think the alignment in vision and quality of deliverables makes it a seamless experience for the client on both ends. I’m happy to spread the word about Influence Society here in the US and am looking forward to the same from the I.S. team in Europe.
The Collective is almost like an Open API for creativity. Clients can go to The Collective and plug-in whichever provider — Bespoke Sound or whoever — they need and get great work in a much more streamlined manner.
Needless to say, I’m very excited about The Collective and looking forward to seeing how it evolves.
More info: https://www.influence-society.com/the-collective/
