Ralph van Dijk and Ramesh Sathiah depart MassiveMusic to launch Saliō Sonic Strategy

Saliō Sonic Strategy, founded by Ralph van Dijk (right) and Ramesh Sathiah (left), has officially launched to help brands build salience through coherent sound systems that work across every touchpoint.

The founders previously led Resonance Sonic Branding (acquired in 2023), 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,” says Ralph van Dijk, co-founder. “But making sound work across a modern organisation-distributed teams, multiple markets, hundreds of decisions happening independently-that’s what Saliō solves.”

From Assets to Infrastructure

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,” says Ramesh Sathiah, co-founder. “Then we build it and integrate it into how your organisation actually works.”

At the core is Sonic Code™-a 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. Together, their sonic branding strategies have delivered more than 30 international awards.

For more information, visit www.saliosonic.com.