Ralph van Dijk and Ramesh Sathiah have left MassiveMusic to launch sonic branding agency, Saliō Sonic Strategy, fine-tuning what they’ve learnt working with the best CMOs across Australia and Europe to be more relevant to today’s brands.
Van Dijk and Sathiah previously led Resonance Sonic Branding (acquired in 2023 by MassiveMusic), Australia’s most-awarded sonic branding agency, delivering award-winning work for brands including, Australian Open, ANZ, Budget Direct, Qantas, Woolworths, Optus and Canva.
That experience taught them something. “The industry creates beautiful sonic identities,” Ralph van Dijk stated. “But making sound work across a modern organisation – distributed teams, multiple markets, hundreds of decisions happening independently – that’s what Saliō solves.”
Van Dijk and Sathiah built Saliō around a key insight – different brands need different sonic approaches. Some need distinctive sonic signatures. Others need to license well-known music strategically. Many need curation systems for high-volume production music, or frameworks to brief external composers and evaluate adaptations. Saliō is asset-agnostic, the solution fits the brand’s reality, not a predetermined template.
“We don’t start by creating assets. We start by understanding what you’re doing now, where sound can actually help, and what each touchpoint needs,” expained Ramesh Sathiah. “Then we build it and integrate it into how your organisation actually works.”
At the core of the new company is Sonic Code, a trademarked framework that defines the strategic, emotional, aesthetic, and behavioural rules governing all sonic decisions. It gives teams the criteria to evaluate any sonic choice independently, whether commissioning custom work, licensing music, or curating playlists.
Van Dijk is the founder of Eardrum, the world’s most awarded audio specialist agency, and co-founder of podcast specialist agency, Earmax Media. He was honoured as an Advertising Legend at Cannes Lions’ 60th Anniversary. Ramesh Sathiah is the former partner and executive creative director of Song Zu (later MassiveMusic), a globally recognised music agency.
Cover image l-r: Ramesh Sathiah & Ralph van Dijk
