Bruno anchors Work With Island in furniture culture, not tech

Acoustic pods occupy a peculiar position in office culture. They solve a genuine problem – the persistent frustration of noise in open-plan workspaces – yet most brands in the category present them as sleek tech accessories, complete with gradients, productivity metaphors and the visual language of gadgetry. Work With Island, a European manufacturer with over 15,000 pods installed since 2018, had fallen into the same trap. The product was crafted like furniture but marketed like a device. Paris, London and San Francisco-based agency Bruno was brought in to correct that disconnect. The brief centred on realigning brand perception with physical reality. Work With Island’s pods are wooden structures with acoustic properties, objects that occupy floor space and contribute to how a room feels. Treating them as tech undermined their actual value proposition: that they function as furniture, designed to support both focus and well-being across those 1,600-plus hours an employee spends in an office each year. Bruno’s response was to anchor the entire identity in furniture culture, positioning Work With Island as the brand that sets the standard for hybrid workspaces. The strategic foundation rested on an unexpected audience choice. Rather than addressing business owners and office managers directly – the people who sign purchase orders – Bruno chose to speak to employees. Paul Mathieu-Collin, Project Manager at Work With Island, explains the reasoning: “Employees are the primary users of the pods and directly experience their value. Addressing them acknowledges the reality of hybrid workspaces as personal environments, while naturally influencing business owners who increasingly prioritise employee experience and workplace culture.” The employee becomes the gateway rather than the obstacle; their satisfaction makes the case more effective than any B2B pitch deck.