The Audio Ad You Can See is 56 seconds of audio. But hidden inside the audio is an an image – our recruitment ad. To 99% of Australians, all they would hear is sound. But the 1% we needed to talk to would see our ad. The audio needed to be processed with a spectrogram.
It’s a tool that analyses frequencies in the electromagnetic spectrum and is used by tech experts to analyse sound. It’s also used by the Navy to analyse frequencies and identify threats that can’t be seen. Only those with the right problem-solving abilities could find the hidden message and get the direct link to the job listing. The result was an audio ad that was also a print ad, a social post, user-generated content, a direct recruitment campaign, and an innovative way for the Australian Navy to find its new intelligence recruits.
It’s a tool that analyses frequencies in the electromagnetic spectrum and is used by tech experts to analyse sound. It’s also used by the Navy to analyse frequencies and identify threats that can’t be seen. Only those with the right problem-solving abilities could find the hidden message and get the direct link to the job listing. The result was an audio ad that was also a print ad, a social post, user-generated content, a direct recruitment campaign, and an innovative way for the Australian Navy to find its new intelligence recruits.
This was an incredibly complex sound design challenge. While the audio needed to be crafted for an image, the image needed to be crafted for audio. So, this called for a unique collaboration between an audio engineer and visual designer. Hiding a print ad inside an audio ad began with a visual designer creating a poster. It was then converted into audio using an image synthesizer, before the voice and further soundscape elements were added. Essentially, the audio engineer was painting with sound, designing for an image. The audio also contained other hidden sounds to misdirect the audience, like sonar pings, whale sounds, muffled communications and Morse code – with its own hidden message that spelled out ‘KEEP LOOKING’. For every audio output created, the designer then tweaked the design, which informed further decisions from the sound engineer – over 100 outputs were created before the final audio and image worked in harmony. The audio was released on social media.
Credits go to: VMLY&R Australia
Chief Creative Officer AUNZ: Paul Nagy
Group Executive Creative Director: Jake Barrow
Creative Director: James Wills
Creative Director: Robyn Bergmann
Designer: Simon Gray
Integrated Producer: Fiona Norman
Producer: Annie Thiele
Editor: Leigh Cooke
Account Director: Meaghan de Laurier
Account Manager: Madeleine Moorhead
Account Executive: Jess Osrin
Navy Client:
Navy Brand Portfolio Manager: Jess Goggin
Navy Brand Portfolio Manager (acting): Anjali Bakaya
Navy Senior Marketing Officer: Liam Walford
Maria Ngo - Social Media Content Manager
Squeak E Clean:
Head of Sound: Paul Le Couteur
Executive Producer: Ceri Davies