How to brief a company song

Start with the story people tell

A good company-song brief can start with something small: the kettle that survived three office moves, the first customer, or the person who always found another chair.

You don’t need to write lyrics. You need a few details that belong to your team.

Begin with the occasion. Is this a thank-you, a company anniversary, a launch or a gathering after months of working apart? Then choose one feeling. “Warm and funny” gives a useful direction. “It needs to say everything about the business” is harder to turn into a song.

Ask three people for one memory each

Choose people with different views of the company: someone who was there early, someone who joined recently and someone whose work often happens out of sight. Ask each for one moment, rather than a list of achievements.

Useful prompts are:

• What small thing makes this place feel like itself?
• When did someone make a difficult day better?
• What story would people recognise without a long explanation?

Keep the answers short. Look for a detail that works for everyone in the room, including the people who weren’t there when it happened.

Turn a value into a scene

“We believe in teamwork” tells the listener what to think. A scene gives them something to picture.

For example:

Broad brief: We’re resilient and work well together.

More useful brief: The first workshop leaked. On wet mornings, everyone moved the buckets before putting the kettle on. Now the building is bigger, but people still make tea for whoever arrives next.

The second version offers a place, an action and a detail that can carry the feeling. It does not need to name every milestone.

Decide what stays out

Some stories are funny only to the person telling them. Leave out details that embarrass a colleague, expose private information or make one person the joke without their agreement. Get permission before sharing someone else’s personal story.

Names need care too. Write down the pronunciation, not just the spelling. Decide whether the company name should be a small detail or part of the chorus.

Describe the sound in ordinary words

Try “warm piano, a steady groove and a chorus people can sing along with”, or “guitars, a lively beat and a slightly scrappy feel”.

Genre, energy, instruments, vocal texture and era are useful. A request to copy a particular artist or voice is not the direction we work from.

Think about where people will hear it. A quiet thank-you at the end of a dinner has a different job from the opening of a team party.

A brief you can copy

“We’re making this for [occasion]. The audience is [people], and we want them to feel [feeling]. The story is [two sentences]. Please include [three details]. Avoid [topics]. The sound should be [direction]. The names are pronounced [guide]. We’d like to use it [where], and the event date is [date].”

Choose one person to collect feedback before you begin. A clear brief and one combined set of notes make it easier to keep the song’s character.

Loud Occasion’s planned Company Single is $299 USD before tax, with one custom song, cover artwork, audio and lyrics, a cover-art video and two creative revision rounds within the agreed brief. Scope, usage and timing are agreed before payment.