We’ve all been there, stuck in a conference call desperately trying to figure out what our interlocutor is saying. And with the lockdown still upon our heads, these situations are more frequent. You probably have become familiar with the situation in which you asked the question “what?” at least once because you didn’t understand what the other person had said. This happens either because of a bad internet connection or because your audio equipment is not the best. Let’s face it, the question “what?” is just bad for the business.

Simply put, “What?” has become the most expensive word in the business world. This is the conclusion of people from EPOS who, following a study conducted before the pandemic, found that 95% of office workers struggle with concentration in a call as a result of bad audio.

To show just how important the audio equipment is for a business, EPOS joined hands with Copenhagen-agency &Co./NoA and analyzed the word “What?”. The duo launched a short video in which they dramatized the importance of this question. The film has facts at its foundation, as it was created based on recent research with the global market research firm IPSOS evaluating the cost of mishearing, miscommunication, and repetition due to bad audio in business.

“It struck us as strange that businesses spend so much time and resources in trying to optimize the smallest of details. But when it comes to calls and audio, we happily accept presenting important things by shouting into a laptop or letting the client on the other end listen to wind noise that gets picked up by our ear-waxed covered iPhone-headset,” says Thomas Hoffmann, Creative Director at &Co. in Copenhagen.

The campaign marks the start of a big push to position EPOS in the enterprise space. And even though the company has been planning the initiative for a long time, it couldn’t find a better time to launch it. With this ad, EPOS aims to stand out and reach to managers, business owners, CIOs, air traffic controllers, and office workers.

“We are launching a new brand in a very established B2B-market. A market is full of rational messages and product feature communication. We wanted to stand out and take a different approach for the launch of EPOS that of course emphasizes our strong knowledge and expertise within the industry but really highlights the understanding of our customers and their pain points. We believe that to be remembered and relevant we have to present our brand and products in an insightful and relatable way, and that is our goal with this campaign,” adds Bianca Nesgaard, Vice President of Global Marketing at EPOS.

This is a sentiment that is echoed by the agency as well: “Our client already operates an incredibly skilled B2B sales organization, so what we’re trying to do is make the brand more famous. There seems to be a misconception, in B2B, that comms has to be rational and corporate, so it’s incredibly refreshing to work with a B2B company that sees the value of broad, emotional communication. Great creative work can be just as effective here,” concludes Emil Towity, & Co. Media Strategist.

Even though some countries around the world end most coronavirus restrictions, certain activities will continue to remain on hold. This means that the employees of such companies will continue to work from home. So, those of you who are still working remotely, why not use EPOS products so that you avoid this uncomfortable situation of constantly asking your interlocutor to “repeat that, please.”

“I think the “What?” concept is just lovely. Strong and down-to-earth insight and dynamic entertaining video,” concludes Ivan Gurkov, contributor at our sister site, Brandingmag.

Credits:

Client: EPOS

Agency: &Co./NoA

Media Agency: Verizon Media

PR Agency: WE Communications

Digital Agency: IMPACT

Film Production Company: Andy

Service Production Company: Verve Media

Post Production Company: Gimmick, Company 3