Sound Story Acquires The Comms Department, Bec Brown Appointed Strategic Advisor

Sound Story

It’s a big day for Australian communications and reputation consultancy firm Sound Story, which today announced the news that it has acquired the company, The Comms Department.

With the acquisition, Sound Story is expanding its capabilities across “issues management, reputation advisory, executive communications, and organisational change,” per a press release. Plus, it continues its growth as an independent company.

The Comms Department was founded by Bec Brown in 2012, and today she reveals she’s joining the Sound Story team as a Senior Advisor while staying on board at the company she founded. Brown will work closely with Sound Story founders and Managing Partners Jake Challenor and Brian Lawlor, as well as senior leaders Jane Elliott, Zanda Wilson, and Jono Harrison.

The Comms Department is known for its strong reputation as an advisor to brands and organisations, handling sensitive, high-stakes matters across the media, entertainment, lifestyle, and corporate sectors. The company is set to continue operations as a “distinct specialist brand” alongside Sound Story.

In a statement, Brown commented that the acquisition of The Comms Department marks the “next step” for the company.

“The Comms Department has always done its best work in complex situations where judgement, trust and communication genuinely matter,” Brown said.

She continued, “Joining Sound Story gives The Comms Department a bigger platform for the next stage of its work, while protecting the relationships, discretion and values that have shaped the business over the past 14 years.

“Having partnered with Sound Story on several client projects, this next step isn’t theoretical. The work has been strong, the trust is already there, and we genuinely enjoy working together. There’s real alignment in how we think about communications – commercially grounded, deeply human, and always connected to long-term reputation.”

Challenor added that acquiring The Comms Department and having Brown join the team is an “important” phase in Sound Story’s development.

“The role of communications has fundamentally changed over the last few years, with reputational issues sitting even closer to business strategy. Organisations are navigating more complexity, more scrutiny and faster-moving stakeholder environments than ever before,” Challenor said.

“That has made trusted strategic counsel significantly more valuable. Bec has built an incredibly respected business with deep expertise across crisis, reputation and executive communications. Bringing that capability to the group strengthens the advice and support we can provide to clients during high-stakes moments.

“This is an important next step in Sound Story’s growth and reflects where we believe the communications industry is heading – closer to business strategy, leadership and reputation.”

Lawlor said, “The addition of The Comms Department gives us deeper specialist capability in the moments that our clients need calm judgement, experienced advice and practical execution.”