As our research progressed, we came across an exciting new approach to help Parkinson's patients with walking difficulties: MUSIC. More specifically, the use of rhythmic patterns as auditory stimuli.

Many independent scientific studies pointed to the role of music in Parkinson's rehabilitation – with impressive, sometimes instantaneous improvements in the ability to walk.

How? It has to do with the way music is processed in the patient's brain.

Music provides rhythm for patients to control their steps. It promotes new neural connections in healthy areas of the brain, to compensate for the lost ones. Furthermore, music releases dopamine – a natural chemical involved in pleasure and motor control (interestingly, the lack of dopamine is exactly what causes Parkinson's degeneration in the first place).

Science and music were already there. We just needed the right technology to connect them.

Welcome to PARKINSOUNDS, powered by Spotify®.

PARKINSOUNDS was developed in partnership with Spotify®. It's based on a free Android app which runs in seamless integration with a Spotify® API.

Its operation consists in 3 steps.

1. PARKINSOUNDS helps patients find their ideal pace. Every patient has a walking speed that responds best to the music therapy, and a built-in digital metronome helps finding it.

2. Once the patient's ideal pace is saved, PARKINSOUNDS automatically selects the songs that match that beat, from any Spotify® playlist. So patients have millions of songs to choose from.

3. PARKINSOUNDS is able to add audio cues to the patient’s favorite songs – enhancing the original beat, in order to make the songs more functional from a rehabilitation perspective.

A digital media campaign is being aired by Spotify® to promote the idea among its users. The client is also driving the use of PARKINSOUNDS via doctor recommendation and patient advocacy groups.

Although PARKINSOUNDS has only been available for a few weeks, current results are promising.

Doctors' and physiotherapists' feedback has been amazing – they see the value in the idea and recognize the improvements in their patients.

Client considers PARKINSOUNDS as a unique differentiator in a crowded and stagnant market.

Spotify® is happy to see their popular platform leveraged for a meaningful purpose.

Most importantly, it's touching to see the patients' reactions as they recover their lost ability to walk… to the sound of their favorite songs.

We see a great potential for the idea. As PARKINSOUNDS is integrated to Spotify®, it's been evaluated to be made available globally, provided our client gets regulatory approval in the different markets.

The production costs involved in developing the PARKINSOUNDS app were absorbed by Spotify. The client's investment was re-directed to a Spotify® channel, and to online promotion through a digital campaign.

PARKINSOUNDS, powered by Spotify®, unleashes the power of music as a rehabilitation tool, integrating it to a popular platform. Our client, a pharma company, goes "beyond the pill" – and so do our patients.

PARKINSOUNDS IS FRIENDLY.

It's meant to be pleasant and enjoyable. We didn't want to come up with another boring or tiresome rehab exercise in the patient's routine.

PARKINSOUNDS IS PERSONAL.

As a fully customizable solution, it establishes an immediate emotional connection with each patient.

PARKINSOUNDS IS ACCESSIBLE.

Our idea is a 100% free solution, easy to use, portable and open for people to access from anywhere.

Parkinson's is the 2nd more prevalent neurological disease in the world. As it progresses, patients become increasingly challenged in their daily activities.

The agency team conducted a research to highlight the unmet needs in Parkinson's treatment. As it turned out, drug therapy and neurological surgery are both effective and improve many of the Parkinson's symptoms. Except one: the so-called Parkinson's gait, or the difficulties patients face in walking.

In fact, due to the damaged neurons in the motor brain area, Parkinson's patients literally "forget" how to walk – it is no longer automatic. It leads to dangerous falls, which bring physical and psychological harm.

Our challenge was to "go beyond the pill" with the use of technology. We strived to come up with an idea that could bring a significant benefit to Parkinson's patients; easy to implement; accessible to all patients; and joyful to use.