This internal project was part of a series of holiday greetings that hijack the traditional approach to a holiday card, instead creating a small intervention in people’s lives that uses technology for positive impact. Following a successful inaugural intervention in 2013 – with Higby – the brief was to create a second instalment of this series.

We were also challenged to do this in a way that actively engaged all of our people – across four office locations – in the process

Initially, we thought about emerging technologies that could do interesting things. This led us to ‘3D binaural sound’, which we felt was under-utilised.

We made two observations. Firstly, that the festive season can be a challenging time. While the joyful aspects are well documented, many people feel additional pressures to deliver in work and personal life.

Secondly, our relationship with technology is out of balance. We live buried in our screens, often feeling that we serve technology,not the other way around.

So we thought about what could a) help people at a time when they may be feeling a bit stretched, and b) encourage healthier relationships with technology.

This tied in with a theme we’d been exploring ‘un-thinking’. This was the idea that we sometimes think ourselves into mental corners, where no amount of additional thinking seems to help. What we need is a way to untie ourselves from these psychological knots – a way to "un- think."

To help tell this story in an engaging way, we spoke to Booker-shortlisted novelist Mohsin Hamid. He inspired us with a relevant passage from novel "The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy," which helped frame the project in a universally human way.

The outcome was a mobile-first web app named SAM: a series of Sideways Audio Moments.

SAM uses 3D soundscape recordings – each about three minutes long. When mentally fatigued, or at a creative dead-end, the user puts on their headphones and lets the soundscapes briefly teleport them to unexpected places.

The soundscapes can be listened to sequentially, or a simple click on the SAM icon will skip to the next one. Before long the user can return to their original task with renewed vigour and creativity.

SAM features the sounds of places as diverse as a London train, a Dubai souk, and San Francisco park. Using a simple 3D binaural recording kit, our people in four global offices visited public locations – places they go for a different perspective – and capture the ambient audio.

In this way we were able to involve people across the whole company, satisfying one of our objectives.

The project has been shared widely with our network, demonstrating the useful creativity we can inject into organisations.

The mailshot achieved a 31.2% open-rate (industry average is 14.9%). While the web page received 2,618 unique visitors, staying for an average 3 minutes and 16 seconds (site average is currently 1.08).

We are creative partners for ambitious leaders who want to create better brands and better businesses. Our global teams of designers, strategists, technologists, programme managers and educators deliver deep, meaningful change across and beyond our clients’ organisations.

Since 1965, we’ve been designing brands that are better for organisations because they’re better for people. In this technology enabled age, our trust in the power of the individual remains. In fact now, more than ever, the potential impact of people is critical. The key to unlocking this potential is creativity.