Today, most people with a smartphone have a subscription to some kind of media service. A quick swipe through a friend's iPhone and I can easily find Spotify, Netflix and Soundcloud. Listening to music you love has never been easier. Discovering new movies, just as simple.
But the way we consume content hasn't quite caught up. Many of us still use small earphones or cheap speakers designed for audio assistants. Often, the beauty of great sound gets lost.
Audio pioneers Sonos have changed that. Since 2002 they've been bringing brilliant sound into homes across the world. But with a competitive market, the organisation recognised that exploring new ways of serving customers would ensure they continued to lead the way
The first 100 meters
In early 2019 we met with Sonos for the first time to discuss the possibility of working on a service concept. The team knew this was a space worth exploring, but hadn't landed on any ideas. Our first suggestion: a series of sprint workshops.
Working with Dick Mooijman, Sonos EMEA GM, we helped identify a cross-functional team of internal candidates that could work on the challenge. We assembled these rock-stars in a room and began to sketch out the possibilities. Over the course of 3 workshops we identified different opportunities and customer segments.
Validate, validate, validate
A great idea is a good start. But next we had to meet with potential customers to confirm our assumptions. We ran a qualitative customer research study and boiled down the finding into key insights.
After identifying several great ideas, this was an important turning point. Some of the concepts that had seemed promising just didn't resonate with the target group. We helped the team adjust and refine until we'd landed on an idea that was ready to be built and tested...
Moving at start-up speed
After validating the team's ideas and landing on a concept, it was time to start building.
We worked hand-in-hand with the team to move at speed and develop a minimum viable product. Subspot ran weekly meetings to ensure everyone was in the loop and could focus on execution. We led the team through the creation of a service blueprint, operationalising the go-to-market process and plugging in the technology required to make it all work.
This is always one of the most satisfying parts of a project: collaboration. Team members from finance to logistics, customer-service to web design came together to build the final product. Teamwork at its finest.
Introducing Sonos Flex
The end result is Sonos Flex: a flexible, worry-free subscription to the latest in audio technology.
Over the next 3 years, we helped drive the market adoption and performance of the corporate startup team. After iterating the service towards product-market fit we focused on delivering a scalable technology stack and business teams.
Currently Sonos Flex concept has been integrated into the Direct to Consumer team and is ready to scale internationally.
Sonos Flex
