We began as a four-person company in 2002 with a simple vision: help music lovers play any song anywhere in their homes. The one problem, however, was that at the time the necessary technology to achieve that vision was almost nonexistent. Fast-forward to 2018, where we’ve invented the technology and created the highest-quality wireless audio system the world had ever seen.

So, when it came time for one of the most monumental moments for our company – getting listed on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange – we wanted to use it as an opportunity to show the world our unwavering commitment to sonic culture. We knew we needed to go public in a way that would break through the traditional financial outlets and capture the attention of mass consumer media.

Instead of just ringing the Nasdaq bell like every other company going public, we reinvented it – designing an entirely new bell from scratch that has now replaced the sound of global commerce. Forever.

Because the sound of the bell ringing to open the stock market is one of the most iconic and enduring moments in the financial world, we wanted to create a bell that sounded completely new and futuristic to reflect the market we were listing with: Nasdaq. So, we decided to create a bell sound without any bells involved.

We didn’t just want to transcend business and financial media. We wanted to expand brand reach beyond our core demographic and existing fan base to mainstream consumer audiences. To reach these cultural omnivores, we had to land stories in major lifestyle outlets. No easy feat when it comes to financial news.

First, we identified a list of priority media and mapped 12 executive spokespeople to relevant verticals across business, financial, tech, culture, entertainment to ensure maximum storytelling opportunities across a 48-hour news cycle.

Then, we created an array of visual assets for social sharing and to bolster editorial coverage, including a behind-the-scenes video on the making of the new bell.

Partnering with a Grammy Award-winning producer and an Academy Award-winning sound designer, along with our in-house sound experience team, we reconceived the sound of the new bell – which hadn’t been updated in over 20 years.

To design it, our team went on a two-month long sound-hunting exploration, recording hundreds of different sounds using many combinations of objects clanging, brushing and crashing against each other. Instead, it’s a multi-layered audio experiment that pulls together more than 100 different sonic elements including hammers, screwdrivers, Tibetan blows and spinning coins.

We debuted the sound on August 2, 2018. The new bell rang the morning of our IPO, and it remains the bell that rings at Nasdaq in perpetuity.

With our goal of breaking through the traditional finance and business verticals to gain attention of a broader group of media, the results surpassed all expectations. In the first 48 hours, we reached more than 3.7 billion impressions with 929 global stories, including 323 placements in the US. The remastered bell received the strongest message pull-through in coverage, with mentions in more than 209 articles. Additionally, the activation was featured in Fast Company’s “Top 5 Ads of the Week,” as well as AdAge’s “Best of 2018 Digital/Integrated” work. Most importantly, the sound we created has permanently replaced the original Nasdaq bell, ensuring that, every day, the sound of global commerce begins and ends with the sound of Sonos.