Thalys Outdoor, Design & Branding, Case study Sounds of the City [alternative version] by Rosapark Paris
![Sounds of the City [alternative version]](https://fcdn.me/9c3/b27/thalys-sounds-of-the-city-218acf5ae7a9701b8bb4c1be3d.jpg "Sounds of the City [alternative version]")
Thalys: Sounds of the City [alternative version]
Awards:
| Cannes Lions, 2015 | ||
|---|---|---|
| PROMO AND ACTIVATION | PRODUCT & SERVICE: TRAVEL, ENTERTAINMENT & LEISURE | BRONZE |
| PROMO AND ACTIVATION | USE OF PROMO & ACTIVATION: USE OF AMBIENT IN A PROMOTIONAL CAMPAIGN: LARGE SCALE | BRONZE |
| Clio Awards 2015 | ||
| Design | Other | Bronze |
| Kinsale Sharks Awards, 2015 | ||
| Media | Media Excellence - Innovative Media Strategy and Use | Silver Winner |
| LIA (London International Awards), 2015 | ||
| Billboard | Innovative Use of Billboard | Gold Winner |
| Design | Experiential Marketing | Silver Winner |
| Epica Awards 2015 | ||
| Media Usage | Media Innovation - Traditional Media | Gold |
| Eurobest Awards, 2015 | ||
| Design | Brand Environments & Experience Design: Installation (Sculptural/ Spatial) & Environment | Grand Prix |
| Design | Communication Design: Posters | Silver Eurobest |
| Design | Use of Design Craft: Sound Design | Bronze Eurobest |
| Direct | Product & Service: Travel, Leisure & Retail (incl. e-commerce & restaurants) | Bronze Eurobest |
| Direct | Use of Direct Marketing: Direct Response Print or Standard Outdoor, including Inserts | Bronze Eurobest |
| Cristal Festival, 2015 | ||
| Brand Entertainment & Content | Best use or integration of experiential events | Emerald (Bronze) |
| Design | Posters | Emerald (Bronze) |
| Design | Sound Design | Cristal (Gold) |
| Young Guns Awards 2015 | ||
| Creative - Out of Home Campaigns | Outdoor campaigns (can be a mixture of different mediums) | Bronze |
| One Show, 2016 | ||
| Design | Consumer - Environmental / Immersive Design / Ambient Media - Series | Gold Pencil |
| Print & Outdoor | Innovation - Ambient (Indoor & Outdoor) / Ambient (Indoor & Outdoor) | Merit |
| Design | Innovation - Environmental / Immersive Design / Environmental / Immersive Design | Bronze Pencil |
| Print & Outdoor | Consumer - Ambient Media (Indoor & Outdoor) / Digital / Electronic | Merit |
Credits & Description:
Advertiser: THALYS TRAIN NETWORK
Agency: ROSAPARK
Geo: France
Managing Director: Delphine Drutel(ROSAPARK)
Co Founder: Gilles Fichteberg(ROSAPARK)
Creative Director: Jamie Standen(ROSAPARK)
Copywriter: Lucile Briotet(ROSAPARK)
Sound Editing: Nicolas Majumder(Schmooze)
Art Director: Olivier Lafaysse(ROSAPARK)
Sound mixing: Sylvain Rety(Schmooze)
Account Manager: Camille Hemet(ROSAPARK)
Executive Producer: Hugo Legrand(BIRTH)
Co Founder: Jean François Sacco(ROSAPARK)
Co Founder: Jean Patrick Chiquiar(ROSAPARK)
Creative Director: Mark Forgan(ROSAPARK)
Sound Producer: Matthieu Sibony(Schmooze)
Additional Sound Recording: Raphael Ayache(Schmooze)
Director: Vincent Rodella(BIRTH)
Brief Explanation
The Thalys train network connects cities in France, Belgium, Germany and Amsterdam. The cities are close enough to each other that a trip from one to the other might not feel very exotic. Thalys promote holidays as part of their ticket sales strategy, and their challenge is how to make these destinations look fresh and exciting. How to make Brussels exciting to a Parisian? How to make someone from Dusseldorf visit The Hague?
The Brief
This campaign targeted casual, weekend travellers. But the expectation with activations such these billboards is that people will be motivated to book a holiday, and will pull out their cellphone and start exploring tickets and prices that they will book on the spot, or more likely back at home once they are in front of a laptop.
How the final design was conceived
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? 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.
Indication of how successful the outcome was in the market
We changed perceptions about nearby cities on the network. Thousands of people interacted with the installations.
Tickets for the three holiday weekends in May sold out fast.
Visits to Thalys.com spiked by 20,000 impressions, a 58.5% increase on the average for that time of the year.