Filmmaker Peter Sorcher, experience design strategist Nico van Praag, and brand strategist Hans Ullmark have come together to start Tēm (pronounced team).
“We are cinematic storytellers working with large companies to create culture content which will be shared with their employees and stakeholders,” said Sorcher.
Ullmark related, “It all began with a few clients and friends in large corporations telling us there’s literally a company culture crisis that they are dealing with. Zoom and emails have not been enough to maintain the culture in their companies, which has resulted in major problems with employee motivation, retention and collaboration.”
Added van Praag, “We started interviewing HR directors and other company leaders, and learned that they were making serious efforts to find solutions that would help stabilize their work force. “The stories we tell differ from company to company but they bring to the surface the current issues that the companies and their employees are dealing with.”
Tēm combines telling short cinematic stories with a digital destination where the employees can engage in dialogue about the films as well as share ideas, images, music, and videos, and thus be an active contributor to the culture and the company.
“The films, and The Huddle (the digital hub), feed off each other,” explained Ullmark. “Employees become part of the content creation.”
“No one is closer to your company culture than your employees,” said Sorcher, “and in these short films we engage employees to tell the stories, to literally be the voices and faces of the company. We are focused on delivering a real, authentic storytelling experience to make everyone feel more connected to the company.”
The three partners bring different experiences and skillsets to Tēm: Sorcher has made commercials and documentaries for over 20 years, van Praag has been an omni-channel creative experience strategist and working as a strategist with ad agencies and brands, and Ullmark has worked with global branding and communications.
“We have separately worked with quite a few big companies and have seen firsthand the importance of strong corporate culture,” van Praag said. “Now we’re on a mission to help create strong and purposeful cultures in our clients’ companies.”
