The first printed poster that reacts to sound

To launch the recent Soundlounge event in Düsseldorf, BBDO created the first printed poster that reacts to sound and makes noise visible. 

Soundlounge was a unique event created to bring together professionals from the sound and advertising industries, in Düsseldorf – Germany’s advertising centre. BDDO group agencies, BBDO Düsseldorf, Proximity Worldwide and CraftWork, worked together with IT experts IOX Lab, to create a unique invitation, that expressed the essence of this first-time event. 

On the surface, the poster appears to be like any other: a simple sheet of paper. But hidden underneath are audio receptors linked to micro-rear projection technology. An algorithm analyses the sound frequency and volume to create the perfect reaction to ambient noise, transforming it into graphical impulses to reveal the message.

The posters were placed in reception areas of leading sound studios and production houses across Germany, directly hitting the key target audience. They automatically caught people’s attention, inviting them to interact with the poster.

Wolfgang Schneider, Chief Creative Officer of BBDO Germany says, “the way in which we used this technology to transform a traditional print medium into a digital one was innovative. Which brought both our audience and the message alive“.

This created a big buzz about the Soundlounge event, with many people sharing their experience of interacting with the poster on social media. 

Word spread even further, in Germany and beyond, into Austria and Switzerland. The result was a fantastically successful event. It attracted everybody who is anybody in the sound and advertising industries and helped reconfirm Düsseldorf as the place for sound professionals and ad agencies to be.