After Jim Haven, chief creative officer at Creature, a Seattle-based agency, listened to his company’s own on-hold music, he cringed. “I was really embarrassed,” he noted recently, “I had heard the rumors about how bad our hold music was – and so I called and asked to be put on hold.” To curb this roadblock that had potentially deterred customers, Haven decided to do something about it.
Creature had hosted a Cisco (News - Alert) IP 7941 phone system and used the on hold music that had come along with it. Within a week, two songs were created to upgrade and modernize Creature’s on hold experience for the customer.
“This next telephone conversation may be the change you wish to see in the world,” or “may be the reason you never let your children watch television,” are two of the excerpts from the first hip soundtrack of the on hold music that sort of gives you the feeling you’re listening to The Fresh Prince of Bel Air’s version of being on hold.
Haven stated, “You spend so much time talking to people on your cell phones, you kind of forget about the main phone number and that to many people it's the gateway. At any rate, I challenged the creative department to come up with a solution."
The second track makes the listener laugh (always a good prep for the pending phone conversation) by featuring shout outs to project managers, promotional items, and vendors. Haven added that Creature is contemplating putting out a “Songs to Hold By” album (as a joke?) once it accumulates a decent repertoire of songs.
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