Cutting Through the Noise with Shez Mehra

[00:00:00] In today's episode of Business as Unusual, I dive into the world of sonic branding and experience design with award-winning creative entrepreneur and dj. She Mera discover why sound is a powerful, yet often overlooked tool for building memorable brands, no matter your business size and how you can start using intentional audio to create more impactful experiences.

Tune in for practical strategies, inspiring stories, and a fresh perspective on how making people feel something through sound can set your brand apart.

Aicila: Welcome to Business as Unusual. Today I am with Shez Mera, an award-winning creative entrepreneur, DJ, and founder of the 1 94 Group from spinning for icons like Lady Gaga and the weekend.

To crafting sonic identities for global brands. Shez sits at the crossroads of sound storytelling and experience design. He's led audio driven campaigns for brands like Nike, Google, and Rolls Royce, and built immersive environments for names [00:01:00] like the TT Group, towel Group like Thet Group and D Drake Hotels.

Whether it's a festival stage or a retail space, Shez knows how to make brands feel unforgettable. So let's dive in. Welcome to the show.

Shez: Hey, thanks so much for having me. Pleasure

In a nutshell, I play in the space of experiences and making people feel stuff, and, uh, more often than not, I'm doing that for brands these days. So, yeah. Yeah.

Aicila: I will say. I went to a, an event several years ago, and it was the first time I really understood, because I, of course went out dancing and things and I knew, I think we all knew someone in high school who was a DJ

Shez: mm-hmm.

Aicila: you know, and then, and then I was at an event and the, that DJ was spinning in this way, that we were kind of in this.

And I'm gonna sound like I come from Boulder. I apologize to everybody right now, but we were in this like musical conversation and it was a completely [00:02:00] different experience. So that's when I had my aha moment with the, the things that, the craft piece of it that I was of course, completely ignorant of until I had that experience, it was kind of wild.

Shez: it, it is a conversation and that's exactly it, right? It's um. It is an exchange of energy their medium that DJ's medium is, is music and organizing and orchestrating and, and mixing those chosen records in a specific order and given way to do exactly that if they're doing their job well. And that is to have, a reciprocal exchange of energy and a conversation with that audience in front of them, whether it's four or 400 or 4,000 people. that medium of sound. And actually what got me interested in all of this in the first place is that kid in high school, DJing those parties and DJing took me around the world. And when I found myself in those rooms where [00:03:00] didn't speak the same language as me, and it was a completely different culture and there was all these barriers and hurdles between us communicating. Amongst one another in a traditional sense. But I was reliant on using music as my tooling to do just that, and I was able to, and, and that's where I was like, Hmm, this is very interesting and very powerful that I can make people smile, laugh, cry, angry. All of these emotions by being this Wizard of Oz esque figure,

Aicila: Yeah.

Shez: this DJ booth.

And, um, I was just fascinated by the human psychology of, of how sound and music can actually really speak to people and speak with people and speak through people.

Aicila: Yeah. Do you have a, like a moment, like a story, like I have that moment at this event where I just sort of realized there was this other layer happening. Do you have a moment of that? Because you, that you're speaking generally, like you had this experience where you were [00:04:00] communicating without being able to communicate in more traditional methods, but was there an event you were doing or a conversation where you suddenly realized, oh, we are connecting and we're not using typical you know, words in that way?

Shez: Yeah, it was actually, I was 16 years old and I went to an all ages nightclub with my then high school sweetheart, now wife and mom of three. But we, uh, we went to a club one day and, you know, prior to this I had gone to, I. DJ battles, they were called and it was pretty nerdy, backpack, hip hop sort of vibe and guys and girls on stage, but they were scratching and beat, juggling where they took two copies of the same 12 inch record and made something new out of it and manipulating these records.

So that was my experience with all of this. one day I went to a club with this girl and. You know, people were like dancing and stuff and so it was a very different energy and I found my way to the [00:05:00] DJ booth and we kind of just hung out there all night and I watched this DJ take a audience of about 2000 high school kids on this journey. And he was live remixing with three turntables and doing all of this crazy stuff. But he had everyone eating outta the palm of his hand That was when I sort of had the epiphany. That was the realization that wanna do this. I want to make people feel. Emotions and I was a huge music fan as it were. And I saw what he was doing with all of these vinyl records over a three, four hour journey. And at the end of his set there was just stacks of records, you know, all over the place. 'cause he was flying through these songs and remixing these songs and just, it was, it was, he was composing an orchestra and I saw the impact it have, not only on myself and my date. But those other thousands of kids, and we were like above it all in this [00:06:00] sort of balcony area. So literally just seeing a sea of thousands of people react to, you know, these choices, it blew my mind. So that was, that was my moment of sort of coming to fruition where I was like, wow, this is, this is actually very powerful. I love it. I wanna do this.

Aicila: Yeah, so I met you through Ethan Decker, a friend and colleague, and you guys recently did a presentation on Sonic branding. And one of the things that you talked about that I thought was fascinating is that very few companies or brands use sonic branding, which you can, I think it's self-evident, but we can also explain what that is.

And yet it has something like eight times Better of a recall. Is that, I think that's the right stat.

Shez: and a half actually.

Aicila: Can you talk a little bit about that? Because I don't know, I feel like most of us know that music has an impact, but this is a little bit different than that.

Shez: Sure. yeah, you know, music [00:07:00] does have an impact and think it's the reason why like we sing our kids the ABCs to teach it to them. It's melodic, it's musical. And, and through that musicality, um, through those emotions, that's where memories are formed. So we know this stuff, it's nothing new. And when you think back to fifties and sixties when, when TV first became a thing, and you know, even thinking about radio and then television, these were binary exchanges of communication for the most part. Families would sit around their TV set watching JFK give a speech. They would drive as a family in their car, they were going, listening to the radio. They weren't also on their iPhone or iPad. They weren't on a second screen, they weren't on TikTok. They, you know, it was a binary exchange of communication. And in that exchange, those. Communicators, whether they were brand [00:08:00] advertisers, they did take sound and audio very seriously because prior to television, that was their only medium of communicating with people was the radio. And so there was a lot of thought going into that communication. And that's why jingles were so powerful back then because they were able to actually get into the hearts and minds of people listening. And then when people were watching, they paired. That audio with the visual in a strategic way to try and cut through with people. But the point is that people were only doing that one thing today, are doing a million things a minute, we've been so focused on visual since then, going back decades as marketers that we haven't really evolved to think about. How the landscape of communication has changed, not just sending communication, but receiving communication. And I think the way we receive signal and receive messages and [00:09:00] receive communication is very, very different because our brains are have been rewired and we're not consuming information and communications in a binary means anymore. We're receiving it all the time from everywhere. And therein really is the opportunity to go back to something as old as time itself as a species listening to sounds in our mother's womb. know, this is where all of this is coming from. So advertisers and communication experts leaned into all of that in the fifties and sixties and prior forties and thirties through radio and tv.

But today it, it's almost as though brand marketers have. Forgotten about how powerful our sense of hearing is and are so focused on all of these channels and platforms and you know, KPIs and lifts, and sometimes just getting back to humanity and realizing [00:10:00] people are listening all of the time and we can signal things like trust and safety and danger and decrease or increase cortisol levels.

All of this is. Possible through sound.

Aicila: Mm-hmm.

Shez: Um, so I, I think with all of the distractions, we almost need to consider what are, what are the best ways to cut through and get our message through to people. and as Ethan illustrated through the Ipsos research that he collated and put together. Uh, branded sounds are actually eight and a half times more powerful than any other branded asset, so, I mean, that's just a huge opportunity for anyone looking to cut through and resonate with human beings.

Whether you're a brand, a not-for-profit, a government agency, doesn't matter who you are. If, if you want to get your message through what, what an [00:11:00] incredible tool to use, right.

Aicila: Yeah. How accessible is that to those like smaller businesses, solopreneurs, like the, the folks? 'cause I know obviously, like we all know that, you know, you go to the movies and they've got the fanfare or whatever. But for someone who is you know, just got that smaller business. It's mid them and two buddies or something,

Shez: Yeah.

Aicila: know, they know they need a logo, but, and, and there's a lot of options for finding logos at, at a variety of price points.

Right. Uh, but what, what do you, how would someone access that from, from that A Sonic logo, if you will.

Shez: It, it doesn't need to be something that only big brands with huge media budgets, investing six or seven figures, um, can do. If I were starting a pizza shop tomorrow. I would think about what is playing in that pizza shop, [00:12:00] and as I expanded my footprint and opened a second or third location, maybe it was a coffee shop or a donut shop, those are light lifts that people can do.

Just think about how your space or your business will sound, and if you do end up money into commercials and social media and building a presence through content, both. Quote unquote, above and below the line. From an advertising standpoint, it's, it's less about the money going behind the sound or into the sound and more about does this sound make sense for the brand and ethos we wanna personify and how can we be consistent with it?

Right. Consistency. Breeds trust over time. Consistency over time is, is trust. And I mean, just like our mother's voice, it never changed. So when we were in the womb listening to it to when we were eventually born, that trust had been built. And so whether you're a [00:13:00] small business, a, you know, two, three location and shop or bakery. How do you make people feel in the most boring of ways, you know, as they come and buy their bread? It could be something very simple, but if you're doing it consistently and thoughtfully, is building equity for your brand and business, brick by brick over time. And if you're not doing it thoughtfully. If you build equity, you're getting lucky. People might have the odd good experience, but it won't be consistent. you know, if, if we bought that bread and the next week the bread was not really baked as well and it was just inconsistent, we would say, Hey, this business is very inconsistent. We would know it because that's the product we're going to buy.

If I'm gonna a restaurant and eating a meal, I expect, this is one of my favorite restaurants. They always do a great job with the food. those, those experiences that feel inconsistent, subconsciously, [00:14:00] they erode trust without people even realizing it. Right.

Aicila: Mm-hmm.

Shez: would say to the small businesses, here's a really easy way I. For you to have another guardrail up around your brand and to truly be a steward of your brand and safeguard it. And think about it. It doesn't matter if it's a multi-billion dollar brand or if it's, you know, a multi a hundred dollar brand if you're taking your startup or your bakery seriously, just think about how sound can play to that, and it might not mean a sonic logo.

Aicila: Mm-hmm.

Shez: you're not advertising in a traditional sense, either through content or putting media dollars behind assets, you know, for radio or tv, you might not need this little one hit logo to bookend everything with, still might need to make people feel like your bakery is somewhere they might wanna go buy their bread.

And I think it's

Aicila: Right.

Shez: simple. It's just. Starting with strategy,

Aicila: Mm-hmm.

Shez: shortage of tactics that you could employ to, you know, to, to ladder up to the strategy. [00:15:00] But I think just thinking about sound music and how that shapes feelings from a strategic intentional POV is applicable to any business regardless of how big or small they might be.

Aicila: Yeah, that really makes sense to me. I think about like the, the service providers that spend a lot of time in Zoom meetings, right? Like I do a lot of business development strategy with people. I work with folks that do, you know, systems design, accounting, even marketing support, and there there's not necessarily like a physical location.

So what. Can you, can you give some like tips or strategies for someone

Shez: Yeah.

Aicila: situation that wants to, to maybe branch out beyond simply visual assets? What would, what would you recommend for that?

Shez: Yeah. I, you know, think about their footprint. Where are they active? Are they poking, putting out content? Do they wanna be on podcasts like this one?

Aicila: Mm-hmm.

Shez: if I'm on this podcast with you today and I go on another one [00:16:00] tomorrow, and I start talking like this, and I have a completely different tone of voice. Now I'm inconsistent

Aicila: Mm-hmm.

Shez: in who's listening. So are you consistent in how you're showing up and what you're saying, how you're saying it, maybe they don't have a physical location, but they're, you know, an e-commerce brand and they're shipping product and people are unhappy and now the chat bot's not working and they need to call a human being and speak to someone. Well, what is that experience like for them?

Aicila: Mm-hmm.

Shez: know, how long are they on hold? What's playing when they're on hold? Is there a message saying, thank you for your patience and patronage and you know, five minutes go by and we get back to the same loop of death cycle of, of music slowly, you know, you

Aicila: Right.

Shez: you. Or is that a thoughtful journey where maybe the music starts a bit? Faster in terms of beats per minute. And then depending on the length of the ticket, if how long it's open each prompt, you thank them with you, you lower the, the temple of the music now and switch it up psychologically that makes [00:17:00] the wait time easier. Um, so it doesn't always have to be about a physical location, but you

Aicila: Mm-hmm.

Shez: putting up ads on social, even if it's not their own branded music that they're using because they didn't have the money to invest in their own quote unquote brand assets. Great. What kind of music are we licensing to associate with our brand, even if we're going into a stock music library and picking and choosing music? Is the junior marketer or content creator doing that on behalf of the organization? Have they been given any guardrails as to what not to use? Because our brand does not correlate with or stand for death, metal or country or these genres, but we are leading into folk and pop like. It can, it can start there.

So, you know,

Aicila: Mm-hmm.

Shez: the way map out their brands and think about these brand bibles and guides they build, and their colors and their logos, and how we will speak about ourselves or be written [00:18:00] about the, the visual and verb verbal, um, guidance you can build in sonic and musical guidance for yourselves. And that doesn't have to be a, a heavy lift, and you don't need a, a physical location to do that. That's applicable to any company, whether you're B2B, whether you're a tech company, selling to other tech people, whether you're a consumer brand. Um, how is the experience for humans dealing with you, and is there any sonic experience?

Are you, are you a digital company? Like are people using your app to check the weather every day? Well, what if there's like a serious alert. What does that sound like? How do I alert people? Um, this entire architecture of just the journey, the user experience, this is all opportunities. These are all opportunities to map it out.

Sonically, I, I'd say.

Aicila: Yeah, actually I'm thinking about it and I support a nonprofit that does a lot of climate action, and we didn't ever explicitly say anything about Sonic [00:19:00] experiences and because it's very rooted in nature, it's an indigenous organization. We, uh, we have consistently used natural sounds as part of our presentations on different clips and things like that.

So.

Shez: though. That's a thoughtful decision that actually makes sense

Aicila: Mm-hmm. When it was, it was like, it was intuitive in the, like we, we worked as a group to come up with our, and we had a lovely human work, us through our brand voice guidelines and it says brand voice, right? But it wasn't about the audio experience, it was the presentation in terms of writing style and things, but that was when we're making our templates and our clips.

There's so much nature in it visually that it led to there being auditorial. And I'm like, oh no, I actually that at this point. I've been doing it for over a year and it definitely does have that consistent feel.

Shez: Right.

Aicila: know what's happening. No, I was gonna say like I, I see it on my social media, right? 'cause I follow

Shez: yeah,

Aicila: I know what's gonna [00:20:00] happen.

Shez: yeah. And it's one of those things that, you know, when all of this is done well and done right, you don't notice it. It, it just seamless. Right. And when it's not done well, It's blatant and it sticks out like a sore thumb. Like imagine that content from the not-for-profit, this indigenous not-profit, again, had something very polarizing on it.

Not consciously, but just because no one bothered to think about it and they left it up to someone and you didn't go through that initial exercise as a group, even though that exercise was not focused on audio per se. It made you think about, okay. How are we going to sound in terms of how we show up, not just audio wise, but as a organization.

So you did the work, right? But a lot of companies, including big brands, don't think about that and they leave it up to chance, or it's something that's, you know, after the fact and after the thought and after budgets and pins have [00:21:00] been eaten up and, um, that becomes a, a dangerous place to live

Aicila: Yeah.

Shez: ends up happening is. It does stick out like a sore thumb, and that erodes trust and consistency, and have those feelings of achiness inside, but they don't always get the chance to express them, which is even more dangerous because unlike going to my favorite restaurant and the steak being undercooked one day, I could provide that feedback.

I knew exactly what the issue was, or the server was rude. One evening I could provide that feedback back to the business and establishment. But sonically, when we do things that are polarizing or stick out, it makes people feel off, but they don't even fully comprehend or understand why.

Aicila: Right.

Shez: there's no feedback for them to provide.

But no matter how good the steak was cooked or how great the service was, something is off. And so again, [00:22:00] you're. Subconsciously eroding trust

Aicila: Mm-hmm.

Shez: that that's just a dangerous place. You don't wanna be there as a business.

Aicila: Right. What does success look like for you?

Shez: you? for me is being able to control my time work on projects with people whose energy I enjoy deliver outcomes for clients that are. beneficial to them than they are to me or my teams in my businesses. it's the able, it's the ability to really be slow and intentional in how I think through opportunities professionally and personally. It's being able to invest in my health, mentally, physically, into my children and into my family and into my friends.

It's. to give back and support my [00:23:00] community and those who might not be as fortunate as I am. it's just the ability to move through life with meaning and intention, both in business and personally. I think that's my definition of success. And you know, money is important. You need it to do lots of things, but. You can actually do a lot of things that are really rich experiences without money as well. And so I think is a tool. And it's very important and I aspire to make lots of it, but think knowing why you want. That tool is, is more important. And so for me, you know, my, my rationale as to why I am doing all of these things and, and why I am building what I'm building, I'm very clear on what I want out of it all.

And it's not a fancier car or a bigger house or any of that stuff. It's, it's the ability to slow down time and experience this world with my family.

Aicila: Yeah,

Shez: you know, and that's really it.

Aicila: I, I relate to that and I [00:24:00] personally, I, I feel like that choice informed a lot of joy in my life, so,

Shez: great to hear.

Aicila: mm-hmm.

Shez: I'm happy to hear that. 'cause sometimes you question it, right? And it's

Aicila: I am.

Shez: doing the right thing here? Am I, you know, am I, should I be sprinting a little bit faster in this lane? Or you know, should I just lean into this downshift right now? And, and, and, you know, have more faith and all those things become internal questions as an entrepreneur that you're constantly. Kind of, you know, tugging with and wrestling with. But yeah, I think having these conversations is very important and hearing that from someone like yourself, you know, it's just further validation. Like it's okay to

Aicila: Mm-hmm.

Shez: the road less traveled

Aicila: Yeah. Well, and that's part, I mean, the whole,

Shez: for.

Aicila: me, part of what inspired my interest in the work is that there's this, in my opinion, I'll call it a propaganda machine that tells us this is what success is, and this is, and you read it too. There's so many people who are like, yeah, I made $7 million, but I'm miserable.

It's like, [00:25:00] right. And, and you do need, you do need a certain amount of, uh, you know, physical resources. I like to take it out of the realm of money because I think that sometimes we forget what we actually need, right? Is clean air, clean water, food, shelter, and, and money is a way to get there. There's a lot of other ways that you can create that in your life and if you try to chase that, you, I feel like sometimes you'll get there, but the way that you get there isn't really great. But if you chase that, you know, craft and fulfillment and trust and those kinds of things, if my experience has been generally, that ends up being both a more satisfying experience and you get to those good outcomes as well, or desired outcomes.

Shez: every time I've, every time I've chased money in my life, the money has ended up running away from me

Aicila: Mm-hmm.

Shez: and outta my, my reach. And every time I lead with, again, sort of a calm, clear um, things [00:26:00] seemingly continue to work out slowly but surely. So, you know, yeah.

Aicila: Yeah. So you gotta trust yourself. That's my, my big one is I feel like that's, especially if you're an entrepreneur, you know, you left the, the nine to five ex exploitation of things. Frankly, you don't need to start exploiting yourself. That's not necessary, I mean,

Shez: absolutely.

Aicila: right. What advice would you give your 18-year-old self.

Shez: you, what advice would I give my

Aicila: Mm-hmm. It was like two years ago. Right?

Shez: right? Not quite. Um, you know, it, it would be that, and this is something I've always done, but I would have doubled down on it back then, and it would be to spend less time and energy focusing on those that have seemingly made it. it's important to have role models and pe you know, people you [00:27:00] look up to. Um. But don't let others in positions gatekeep or make you feel like you're an imposter because you didn't do X, Y, or Z. And they did.

Aicila: Yeah.

Shez: always took the path less beaten and I was always comfortable being an outsider as an immigrant kid, having to figure it out.

But thinking back to 18 specifically, you know, I was really, I was doing quite well as a dj. I was the youngest DJ in Toronto, like. I, you know, I was underage. The legal drinking age here is 19. So I was playing the 19 plus venues when I was 16, 17, 18. And um, I was made to feel like, who is this young kid? Why is he stepping on our toes and. You know, these were really well established big DJs in the city and country, and I would sort of get bullied around by

Aicila: Hmm.

Shez: and I would take it because I thought that's what it [00:28:00] meant to pay your dues. And in some cases, yeah, everyone has to pay their dues. But I would approach how I navigated those interactions if I were to go back and go through them again.

And I would, you know, do it with. Uh, humble grace and confidence, but I wouldn't, I wouldn't eat as much shit from those people as, as I did back then.

Aicila: Yeah.

Shez: yeah, um, no regrets or anything and, you know, battle scars and everything like that, but just believe in yourself. And I always did. But you know, I'd say believe in yourself more and don't wait for someone to believe in you, to believe in yourself more.

Just believe in yourself more. Don't ask for

Aicila: Yeah.

Shez: Beg

Aicila: Yeah.

Shez: if you need to, if you screw up. But don't wait. Just like go after it and, and do it, you know, unapologetically with empathy and grace and, and a certain candor, but unapologetically just, you know, don't wait for someone to to believe in you.

Aicila: Yeah, [00:29:00] that's really great advice. And something else I'm hearing in what you're saying is that the confusion that I think a lot of folks can relate to between. Uh, not, I don't know, not being overly egoistic or, um, aggressive, and yet also being very clear that it's you. You would deserve a certain amount of dignity that people, people speaking, speaking ill to you or treating you badly because they felt some kind of way in their ego, you accepting that.

You can still be a great, great, grateful, humble person, you know? And yet also be really clear, actually no, that's not mine. I'm not taking that. And I think that that can be a a space that people like. I've seen it in both situations. [00:30:00] Like women often stereotypically will take more because they sort of feel like that and, and, uh, you know, frequently men, but you know, and it's obviously not always gendered, but that's a stereotype will be a little bit more aggressive in response.

And yet both of them are a similar sign of uncertainty or insecurity. And I feel like that confidence base of being able to really clearly say. No, I'm here. I belong. I'm in. I'm in this room, therefore I belong here.

Shez: Yeah, and I think it, it's very different now that I have young children and I'm thinking about what, what I want to impart on them and how I want them to navigate these situations as they are already starting to arise in their own lives. You want them to lead with, know, courage and, and grace, but like you have to draw lines in the sand and don't let anyone else dim your light.

Aicila: Yeah.

Shez: I think it's very important and, and know, know that you can, you know, like your own light. Shines bright and, and don't dim your own light either.[00:31:00]

Aicila: Yeah.

Shez: down because room says, oh, they don't want it very bright today. Or whatever the case is. It's like, nah, just whoever's meant to jive with you in this world, whoever you're meant to work with and grow with, you'll attract those people if you stay true and real to yourself and just don't compromise.

And, and, you know, personal relationships with friendships and business, business partners, whatever it is, is like. Be yourself, but yeah, just, just don't dim your light. It's not, you know? Yeah.

Aicila: Yeah, I feel like I, I do the same. I make, I make friends everywhere and one of my closest colleagues right now is someone I met through a podcasting slack group for, for, for a crowdfunded software. Right. We, we traded podcast and then we became really good friends. And I think there's a part of that too, that I seek joy, I seek to, to share joy and to experience it with people and, and yes, there's a business side to it as well.

Obviously I like to [00:32:00] get things done. And there's something delightful about finding that space in life where you can be effective, get things done, and have a great time doing it. Like to me, that's sort of the trifecta of business success. In in, in how to, how to get there.

Shez: You gotta have fun along the way. Right? That's,

Aicila: yeah.

Shez: It's a, it's a short journey. You may as well architect it yourself and. it as much as you can with the people that you love. And yeah, I mean, it's, it's a very simple equation for me. Again, if I can deliver value and outcomes from a business sense to others who benefit greatly from it and also be. Awarded and rewarded, you know, to provide and make a living and do all of the things. what, what better outcome and scenario can you ask for? Right? You get to design what you do and who you do it for and with, and you do it in a way that's mutually beneficial to all parties involved, and I. Buy yourself more time back and, and buy yourself more freedom.

And that's, again, that's why I [00:33:00] chose this often more difficult path than, just going in and clocking in, clocking out for whoever else. It's not as enjoyable to me.

Aicila: Yeah. So what's something you are excited about in your business?

Shez: I am excited about a lot in, uh, in my business and, and businesses. So everything kind of flows from one main business, but that is really an experience. Driven holding company and we have various products and services. And so one of those products is a SaaS music solution for other businesses. So back to properties, we think about hotels, we think about restaurants, think about retailers.

We take care of all the vibes and feelings in

Aicila: Mm-hmm.

Shez: and places. Very excited about that. It's continued to grow. We're soundtracking a bunch of stuff at Con Lion and, and working with great brands and great properties and, and it's a really, you know, it's a space that I actually came from as a dj, so everything is kind of full circle

Aicila: Yeah.

Shez: Another thing, uh, [00:34:00] that we do is that, but through creative services on the sonic and audio branding side of things, we're doing a lot of original music composition and sonic strategy to answer that question of, well, what should your brand sound like and what does that mean for your organization? So primarily working with.

Uh, B2B, uh, B2B brands and B2C brands. But now starting to work with some startups as well, usually series A and up funded startups that are seriously investing and thinking about brand as they scale. Um, and then at 1 9 4 Group, we are thinking about sound and feelings and emotions. And shaping them for physical events and for activations and product launches and AGMs and galas and, you know, anything where physical, uh, where human beings are congregating and gathering in a physical setting, conferences, um, town halls.

How do those sound? How do those feel? there entertainment? entertainment make sense for [00:35:00] who's attending? What is that journey like from when they even pre-register for the event or, uh, experience online to how they get there to their experience getting in? What does it look, feel, smell, sound like throughout their experience? So everything I'm up to is really coming from the same place of kind of designing and engineering these emotional experiences for people. The methods of deployment just change based on who we're transacting with in a given situation. At 1 9 4 Group, we're working with event producers, meeting and event planners, um, you know, experiential marketers at, uh, audio branding.

We're working with CMOs and VPs of marketing and heads of brand and heads of production that are shipping. You know, assets, visual assets, content, and they want to really cut through. So what does original music and sonic identity mean for them? And at Reyna we're working with ops people, brand experience folks at these [00:36:00] properties, resorts, hotels. They want those experiences to sound great for their guests, for their staff. So again, it's all coming from a similar place, but, um, having a lot of fun along the way. And there's not one specific thing that I'm, you know. Excited for more than another. I think all of these are growing in the right direction. Um, we're, we're doing meaningful work with brands and properties and events that we care about, and yeah, it's, it's, I wouldn't really change anything, you know, I, I'm excited for the growth. I think, um, I. I think there's a lot of good ahead. I think these companies are in growth mode right now, and even though I've been in this space for almost 20 years now, it's, it's finally starting to catch hold in terms of it becoming more of an expecta expectation and thus being briefed into what organizations are doing and aspire to do. Um, versus five years ago, you know, I was a huge proponent of this stuff, but it was. [00:37:00] Um, it wasn't as well received. People were still very focused on, um, over indexing on visuals and visual marketing, and now people are realizing like, if I want to engage my customers and prospects, I need to think about how to do that in a multis, sensorial way.

And, um, you know, listening. a, is a huge piece of that. So yeah, I

Aicila: Yeah.

Shez: I'm feeling good about where, where the wind, the direction in which the wind is blowing. I think audio will, uh, continue to lend itself, um, to various channels and platforms today, to TikTok tomorrow. It's something else. It could be a virtual experience, it could be an app experience, it could be an app you watch, it could be a meal you get. So I'm really taking my DJ background of engineering emotions and. Injecting that ethos into all these different, um, you know, instances.

Aicila: Yeah, I, I lean much, I have a condition called aia, and I find that, uh, audio is a much easier way for me to connect and recall. So I, I definitely [00:38:00] notice when it's there because it's sort of where I, uh, orient myself to external experiences. Uh, so anyhow, I appreciate what you're doing. Uh, for,

Shez: you.

Aicila: for folks that are listening, how do they learn more?

Follow you, get in touch. I.

Shez: Sure. Yeah. Well, thank you. First off, to anyone who is listening, if you wanna continue the conversation or are curious to learn more or just wanna reach out and connect, always happy to have the conversation. Um, you can go to sheez mera.com. That's my personal website, S-H-E-Z-M-E-H-R-A, and uh, dot com. everything will be organized under there.

In terms of my ventures, I also have a not-for-profit I'm building, which is all about using music for good. Uh, we aspire to heal people and are doing incredible things with various charities over there. So this is much more about just building businesses and using sound and music to make money. You know, I really, truly believe in my heart of hearts, in sound and music's ability to help humanity, not just [00:39:00] businesses and brands.

And so, yeah, all of that information. Um, can be found on my website and uh, we can go from there.

Aicila: Thank you so much for joining us today. I really appreciate it.

Shez: Yeah, my pleasure. Thanks for having me. Take good care. Yeah, my pleasure.

Next week, join me when I talk with David Silverman, psychotherapist turned hit TV show creator in our conversation, he shared how understanding the human mind helped him break into Hollywood and how you can become a rockstar screenwriter too.

Thanks for tuning into my chat with the multi-talented Sheez Mera and his insights on the powerful role of sound and sonic branding in building unforgettable brand experiences. If you wanna learn more or connect with Sheez, head over to shez mera.com for his ventures, including his inspiring non-profit work.

Thank you for tuning into business. As unusual, remember, in this ever evolving world of modern business, it's not about fitting in, it's about standing out. See you next time. Stay curious, stay innovative, and always [00:40:00] keep it unusual.

Aicila

Founder, CEO | Business Cartography | Map Your Business Eco System - Organizational Strategy & CoFounder in a Box

Podcasts- Business as UNusual & BiCurean- bio.bicurean.com

http://www.bicurean.com
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