Sound is something that most people take for granted where films are concerned and in doing so, will forget that it is often the sound, more than anything else, that serves to create the atmosphere, generate a feeling or make a scene more believable. Good sound is something that we fail to appreciate until it is no longer there and so the aim of the campaign was to get audiences to think more carefully about what they are hearing at the cinema, how the sound was created and indeed, how the same quality of sound could be replicated at home.
In order to effectively reach a wide audience, the campaign used radio interviews, editorial radio competitions and an online webTV chat show, all of which enabled Dolby to position themselves as the authoritative voice in the marketplace and to educate consumers about the simple ways in which they can use a variety of surround sound technologies (such as Dolby headphones or Dolby Pro Logic II) to improve their viewing experiences at home.
The interviews and webTV chat show were very well received by media owners, mainly thanks to the combined knowledge of the spokespeople; Dolby’s Robin Dyer and film sound effects producer Mark Taylor. Mark was able to explain how even seemingly straight-forward scenes can involve hours of technical expertise in order to make them realistic as well as giving some examples of effects used in films he has worked on himself (Valiant, Elizabeth, Alien vs. Predator, Troy, Snatch and Band of Brothers). Further radio coverage was secured on stations with a limited capacity for speech content by giving away copies of Top Ten chart DVD’s on behalf of Dolby.
The radio coverage generated a combined weekly reach in excess of 30 million and involved a total of 50 radio stations whilst the online webTV chat show allowed us to secure coverage on a further 10 websites encompassing a range of sites from general lifestyle and ISP’s to movies and technology.