Corporate chants

    Probably many of us still remember the anthem of the USSR. Every schoolboy, locksmith, engineer and deputy knew the words of the anthem of the once great country by heart. The anthem was always performed by the choir at any time of the day, regardless of weather conditions. I don’t know about you, but sometimes it seemed to me that this song (and the anthem is still a song) really brought together a variety of people who in reality did not have much in common.

    By the way, the national anthem was, of course, not only in the USSR. A similar situation can be observed in the United States, where the national anthem has not yet changed, unlike us, and it is still performed exclusively standing and in chorus. But that is not all. It was in the United States that the first anthems of corporations and companies (corporate anthems) appeared, which even today are used to “boost morale” of employees.

    I was always wondering: how did corporate anthems appear? It turned out that everything is simple: once work at the same factory or in the same company throughout life was a normal practice, and worked with entire families and generations. In those years, the first anthems of companies appeared, and it was assumed that they could strengthen the moral and team spirit of workers. One of the earliest and most well-known corporate anthems is the IBM anthem, entitled “Ever Onward IBM!” This hymn appeared in 1931!

    True, in the 30s of the last century the attitude to corporate anthems was a little different: imagine how a choir of employees before each planning meeting and during corporate holidays diligently performs the anthem of the company. It was impossible to work in the company and not know the words of the corporate anthem or to falsely perform his refrain. By the way, IBM even released entire collections of its corporate songs. The compilations were accompanied by scores and lyrics so that you could practice practicing the corporate anthem with your family.

    But then, as often happens, the very idea of ​​corporate hymns is slightly distorted. However, the point here is not even the idea, but rather that the employees have changed. Many companies try in vain to diversify the monotonous routine with some primitive songs, but more often than not it does not help. In addition, in many companies, the corporate anthem is not the free creativity of company employees who share a common idea or goal. By the way, I was pleasantly surprised when I saw that in this way some Russian startups already act. Keep it up! Let it be even the simplest song with a guitar, but if it unites employees, then it has the right to exist. But the hymns that are created by efforts or from the filing of top management are far from always ideal. What is the result? Most often, such hymns are ridiculed by employees behind the backs of their superiors, although management still takes their creation seriously.

    Here are a few examples of large Western companies that have their own hymns, which are perceived more as a joke than as something serious. Symantec was included in the list of such companies (the company even launched a separate website dedicated to corporate songs, you can download the anthem here ), Salesforce (funny video), Fujitsu (I must say, not the most pleasant hymn for hearing ), the anthem of the audit company KPMG , which at one time made a lot of noise on the Internet ( listen ).

    A logical question arises: do you need corporate hymns as such? And the company needs them, then why?

    Perhaps the time of corporate hymns and choral office singing has sunk into oblivion. Raise the morale of employees who have to spend an hour and a half in the subway just to get to work, is unlikely to succeed. If the company really wants to try to return to the old traditions, then the employees themselves must come up with a hymn if they really want to. But to impose on employees a corporate anthem written by a local songwriter is not worth it. Get the opposite effect.

    However, today there are much more convenient forms of using music in business. For example, advertising jingles, all possible beats and music for advertising and promotional events. It is this kind of musical content that can be used today by the company, though not so much to strengthen the team spirit, but rather to promote it. As an option - the use of jingles in podcasts, viral marketing and so on.

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