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 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.

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.

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 Parisians, 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.