Epidemic Sound’s contextual outdoor ads pair songs to hundreds of feelings out in the world

Imagine you had soundtrack for your life—that every moment and every feeling had an incredibly accurate score to match.

Epidemic Sound, the global royalty-free soundtrack company, just released a campaign that attempts to create just that, using its bespoke music catalog by pairing sounds for every feeling.

Created by agency Rethink, “A Sound for Every Feeling” presents hyper-specific feelings and scenarios to viewers through local out-of-home ads and contextual digital ads, pairing them with music to match from Epidemic Sound’s soundtrack library.

In New York, Los Angeles and London, more than 500 hyper-contextual OOH ads present scenarios such as the feeling you get when you’re “peeking into a stranger’s first-floor apartment as you walk by, but not slowing down because that would make it creepy,” or “feeling divinely chosen when the train doors open at the good exit,” or “lovingly embracing the city with all its flaws.”

Each ad contains a QR code that leads to a microsite with a playlist or sound available on Epidemic Sound that matches the feeling. Many of the ads are positioned at street level, encouraging passersby to interact with the campaign. 

The campaign aims to raise awareness about Epidemic Sound’s ability to provide good soundtracks for creators’ needs, especially as they look to channel certain emotions in their content, Tara Lawall, executive creative director at Rethink New York, told Ad Age.

“The whole experience should be that you’re reading and connecting to a feeling as you’re standing in the place of that feeling while you’re hearing the soundtrack of that feeling,” she explained.

While the OOH ads blend into the surroundings of the city, such as digital OOH on bus stops, posters and even trash bags, the campaign will also run on social media and online video, channeling even more emotions humans feel daily.

Additional contextual scenarios include “trying to explain how influencing is a job to your parents, while not being entirely sure yourself,” “seeing your parents as people for the first time” and “feeling a little fancy because your water has lemon in it.” 

“This is just a really cool way to drive traffic and have people learn more [about Epidemic Sound] in a way that’s a little bit more interactive,” Lawall said, noting that while creators use sounds from Epidemic Sound, the company hopes to create more name recognition of the company behind the sounds.

The campaign, which launched March 18, will run until mid-April, with a second phase scheduled for the fall. Media placements were managed by Mediahub. The campaign follows the launch last month of Epidemic Sound’s new tagline, “Feel it, find it,” created by Rethink, and brand identity, from agency Bold Scandinavia/NoA.