Why is audio driving DX? What is "DX that conveys warmth"?

Developed with technical support from Voicy, "KOELUTION" is a service that revitalizes companies and solves management challenges through audio content. While the previous article provided an overview, this time we delve deeper through a conversation with Kentaro Ogata, CEO of Voicy, and Mihoko Nishii of Dentsu Inc. Business Design Square (BDS). We explore why "voice" rather than video or text, and how "voice" can help solve corporate challenges.

Connecting people through the power of voice

Nishii: I believe we first met around 2015, right? It was before you founded Voicy, but I remember you passionately discussing the potential of voice media and talking about "starting a revolution with voices." Then, in 2016, you launched Voicy, and in 2019, Dentsu Inc. also made a partial investment.

As you expanded the Voicy business, I heard you were also developing enterprise services. That's when we started discussing potential synergies with BDS's inner activation initiatives, right?

Ogata: Yes. There are two main reasons behind developing "KOELUTION." First, through operating the voice media platform "Voicy," we recognized a need.

Traditionally, audio content meant professional recordings by radio stations and the like. Voicy democratized that. Similarly, print media was once dominated by journalists writing articles, but blogs emerged, enabling ordinary people to publish. Likewise, Voicy's birth allowed anyone to listen to and share their voice online.

This led us to recognize the "power of voice to connect people." Voice-based communication has the effect of bringing the sender and receiver closer together and increasing trust in the sender. This made us wonder if we could harness the power of voice within organizations.

Currently, many corporate executives feel the challenge that "company philosophy and business vision are not effectively reaching the front lines." So, we first created a "voice-based internal newsletter" system. This delivers voices exclusively to internal members and also collects data on who listened, when, and at what point they stopped listening.

Nishii: That's when they consulted our team. We used listening data to determine what kind of content would best solve organizational challenges and how to operate it effectively. We then packaged this into a solution that could benefit more companies—that's KOELUTION. Could you also tell us about the other background?

Ogata: The other factor is broader societal trends. The recent pandemic accelerated remote work, leading to increased employee anxiety and isolation. Continuing to push remote work in a purely transactional manner risks weakening organizational bonds. We felt this moment demanded digital transformation (DX) of communication using voice.

Workstyle reforms demanding more efficient ways of working have also been a major factor. Companies must reduce working hours while retaining employees and lowering turnover, which requires boosting engagement. As a result, many companies are dedicating significant time to 1-on-1 meetings.

Overemphasizing efficiency risks losing the company's warmth, leading to impersonal connections. We believed incorporating voice-based communication could help convey the business vision and foster internal culture.

Nishii: When launching "KOELUTION," we surveyed 20 top executives, right? 75% felt they had challenges with internal communication. Among them, 60% specifically cited the disconnect between management and frontline employees as a problem. We discovered that while everyone recognizes internal communication as an issue, current methods haven't solved it.

Nishii: At BDS, we often work on inner activation—driving change from within companies—and indeed, many firms struggle with internal communication. Moreover, the push for remote work during the pandemic seems to have amplified this challenge. As a business leader yourself, Ogata, what are your observations?

Ogata: If everyone thinks, "I just need to complete the tasks assigned to me," the company risks becoming a collection of outsourced staff. People won't seek out new work. They won't think about the future. Opportunities for employees to unite as one also seem to be significantly reduced.

As a manager, I want every employee to feel that working here was worthwhile and to experience a sense of camaraderie. I refuse to think of work merely as exchanging labor hours and quantity for money. I feel a sense of dread that society seems to be moving against this very sentiment.

"Voice Alone" Can Convey Something Special

Nishii: Ogata-san, why did you become interested in voice-based businesses in the first place? What do you think is the appeal of voice?

Ogata: Information can only be conveyed in two ways: either through something created by hand and perceived by the eye, or something created by the mouth and perceived by the ear. The former involves converting information into text, which strips away the sender's sense of authenticity. When writers or editors draft the text instead of the sender, conveying the sender's true feelings and emotions becomes even harder.

With voice, however, what is spoken is conveyed directly to the listener. Moreover, the sound emitted from the mouth enters the listener's body directly along with its vibrational information, physically vibrating their eardrum. In a way, it's a form of communication that can be both intensely unpleasant and intensely pleasurable. For example, just imagining the sound of nails scraping a chalkboard gives you the creeps, right? That kind of sensation can only be experienced through sounds and voices entering the ear. I believe this physicality is the appeal of voice.

Nishii: When conveying information, video is another method to consider. Could you tell us the advantages of KOELUTION being an audio solution?

Ogata: Information delivery can be broadly categorized into text, audio, and video. Audio is incredibly convenient and less prone to extraneous information. On top of that, it conveys emotion richly. These three points are its advantages.

With text, it's quite challenging to express things precisely to avoid misunderstandings. Moreover, Japanese language proficiency is declining annually, leading to employees misinterpreting written messages and complaining to the company without grasping the true intent. But when conveying a message vocally, even if the grammar isn't perfect, saying something like, "This is incredibly tough, but I really want you to push through," gets both the meaning and emotion across. You can deliver the message, including the surrounding context, simply by speaking in your everyday conversational voice.

With video, there's often too much extra information. You start noticing things like, "They don't seem very energetic today," or "What's that thing in the background?" Overseas research also shows that audio is more effective than video for simply understanding the content. Audio is superior because it allows you to richly convey only what you truly want to communicate.

Nishii: It's not just video minus the visuals; audio has its own unique effects, right?

Ogata: Yes. Audio and video are fundamentally different. Video delivers the world as seen by the eyes. Audio, I believe, captures the emotions received by the ears directly. For example, if someone says "Wow, this is super delicious" in a monotone, you'd immediately think, "Nope, they don't actually think it's delicious." The speaker's emotional fluctuations, thought processes, and level of sincerity all come through completely in their voice. I believe that's where the new value lies.

Nishii: Plus, the ease of distribution is another appeal of audio. If you want to share a video message from the president, you first have to coordinate the president's schedule, then prepare for filming, shoot the video, edit it, review it, make corrections—it involves many processes and takes at least a month or more. Being able to compress that workload is also a benefit of using voice.

Plus, you only need your ears. You can listen while doing other tasks. I think it's a communication tool that doesn't take up the listener's time.

Ogata: Listening to messages while driving or commuting can also boost motivation. We've heard feedback from women saying, "It's great that I can listen while doing my makeup."

Nishii: This service is especially well-suited for jobs like delivery drivers, where hands and eyes are occupied but ears are free.

Support systems to encourage ongoing audio content creation

Ogata: We've also designed it so creators can speak casually. It's okay to say things like "uh..." or "ah..."—you could even talk while sipping tea. Creating a 5-minute piece takes less than 10 minutes—that's how easy it is.

That said, asking non-professional speakers to just "start talking" is challenging. We worked with BDS to solve how to create topics to talk about, or topics that people would want to listen to.

Nishii: As KOELUTION's original method, STEP 1 involves answering the "100 QUESTION" survey. We call it the "Corporate Appeal Rediscovery Diagnosis." Through these 100 questions, we identify the company's challenges and create a diagnostic profile. The insights gathered here become speaking topics and help us identify who should be the speaker. It's a service that enables end-to-end program development.

In the subsequent STEP 2, we have the client company form an editorial planning team. Since continuous content delivery is crucial for "KOELUTION," this step focuses on building that team. Depending on needs, this might involve creating a cross-functional team or having the PR department lead. For "KOELUTION For Recruiting," which specializes in communication with prospective hires and new employees, we also anticipate HR training managers taking the lead.

Then, Dentsu Inc. creators join in to create content that truly resonates, not just conveys. We support everything down to naming the channel and deciding what to discuss during the launch. Voicy also participates as a technical support team. This three-way operational structure involving the client company, Voicy, and Dentsu Inc. is key.

Ogata: Another major benefit is that the audio content remains archived. The founder's voice from their active years, the president's message for the 10th anniversary, and other such content will be preserved alongside the company's history. I believe these archives become the company's assets, its treasures.

Nishii: Another major feature is the ability to collect data per broadcast and per chapter. We gather detailed data, such as monthly listener growth/decline and how many hours employees listened on which days, and report it monthly. This report shows when and how people are listening, helping us determine what content to produce next and informing future communications.

Using voices allows IT to convey warmth

Ogata: While the KOELUTION service is still new and we haven't measured its full impact yet, we're already receiving high praise for how effortless it is to publish content. Listeners have commented, "We wanted to hear the top leadership's thoughts. This is appreciated." It seems to further strengthen the loyalty of those already committed to the company and gives neutral employees a reason to think, "I really do like this company."

Regarding the predecessor to "KOELUTION," the "Voice-Based Internal Newsletter" service, I heard one company rotates their main MC every three months. Members assigned as MCs think deeply about how to engage employees, which reportedly led to significantly higher loyalty to the company.

Previously, unless someone was in the management planning team, they likely never thought about improving the company. But we've heard that being involved in producing the "Voice Internal Newsletter" increased the number of people proactively thinking about the company's future. We expect broad effects from "KOELUTION" too, and it would be great if it could be repurposed for other uses as well.

Nishii: As DX advances, I believe there are still many things that can be solved with voice. Take recruitment letters, for example. When changing jobs, many face "wife block" – when their spouse objects, saying, "Is this company really okay?" I've heard of cases where sending a voice letter from the new company's president saying, "We value you this much. We really want you to work here," helped overcome that "wife block."

Cases where voice communication—conveying emotion, passion, and tone—brings positive effects are everywhere. I hope KOELUTION can respond to that need.

Ogata: Voices really do have warmth, don't they? Using voice, even in IT, should be able to express that warmth.

Nishii: That's also why I like "KOELUTION" – it's digital yet warm. While we often see a binary opposition of real vs. digital, this service creates a smooth gradient. By introducing communication with warmth and this gradient, we can solve various challenges and let more people feel the warmth of the voice. The voice market is expected to grow significantly going forward. What are your outlooks, Ogata-san?

Ogata: Our voice media platform "Voicy" aims to become Japan's largest audio media platform. We take pride in leading the industry in our business model (based on sponsors and listener subscriptions), our audio recommendation services, and our data collection capabilities.

Our future mission is to further enhance ease of use for content creators, creating a state where "abundant compelling content naturally attracts large audiences." We want to make voice-integrated living commonplace and usher in an era where people wonder, "Why did we ever rely solely on our eyes to gather information?"

Nishii: What effects do you expect from partnering with Dentsu Inc.?

Ogata: We want to create an era where companies pay for voices. While corporate programs have started on "Voicy," we also want to enable voice branding and voice marketing. There's a wealth of content that appeals to the ear, like sound logos. The market size is significant, encompassing not just advertising but also content and entertainment industries. We'd be thrilled to explore what we can develop together with Dentsu Inc.

Nishii: I firmly believe the audio market will experience rapid growth within the next few years. When that happens, it would be great if Dentsu Inc. could be involved not just in advertising, but in building relationships between people, between people and companies, and between companies themselves. Just as the video market expanded rapidly, we could see more people making a living through their voices. We'd be thrilled to help propose such new ways of working.

KOELUTION Release:
Developed "KOELUTION," a service that solves corporate management challenges using "voice."