SOUNDS OF THE CITY

TitleSOUNDS OF THE CITY
BrandTHALYS TRAIN NETWORK
Product/ServiceHIGH-SPEED RAIL TRAVEL
Category C04. Travel, Leisure & Retail (incl. e-commerce & Restaurants)
Entrant Company ROSAPARK Paris, FRANCE
Advertising Agency ROSAPARK Paris, FRANCE
Production Company BIRTH Paris, FRANCE
Production Company 2 SCHMOOZE Paris, FRANCE
Credits
Name Company Position
Jean-francois Sacco Rosapark Co-founder Chief Creative Officer
Gilles Fichteberg Rosapark Co-founder Chief Creative Officer
Jean-patrick Chiquiar Rosapark Co-founder
Mark Forgan Rosapark Creative Director
Jamie Standen Rosapark Creative Director
Lucile Briotet Rosapark Copywriter
Olivier Lafaysse Rosapark Art Director
Delphine Drutel Rosapark Managing Director
Camille Hemet Rosapark Account Manager
Matthieu Sibony Schmooze Sound Producer
Sylvain Rety Schmooze Sound Mixing
Nicolas Majumder Schmooze Sound Editing
Raphael Ayache Schmooze Additional Sound Recording
Hugo Legrand Birth Executive Producer
Vincent Rodella Birth Director

Brief Explanation

Thalys often advertise their train destinations as a way of selling tickets, and they're always looking for fresh ways to present them. Most pedestrians carry a pair of headphones with them these days, so why not advertise a city with sound?

Results and Effectiveness

We changed perceptions about nearby cities on the network. Thousands of people interacted with the installations. At the time of writing, tickets for the three holiday weekends in May are selling out fast. Visits to Thalys.com spiked by 20,000 impressions, a 58.5% increase on the average for that time of the year.

Creative Execution

We captured the sound identities of Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam, and integrated them into three adapted billboards. Each city was represented by over 1000 sounds. Each sound was accessed via a unique headphone jack. The sounds included overheard conversations, street musicians, language lessons, market sellers, church bells, scam artists routines, and hundreds more.

Insights, Strategy and the Idea

The Thalys network connects France, Belgium, Germany and Holland. Their destinations are relatively close to each other – close enough to not appear very exotic! Many Parisiens, for example, find imagine why anyone would bother visiting Brussels. By using a new way to showcase the character of a city, sound, we hoped to break through this apathy.