Discover Halifax has recently launched a digitally driven, binaural audio campaign, “Sounds Like You Need Halifax,” to interrupt moments of urban stress with calm.
Targeting millennial and Gen Z professionals in Toronto, the campaign aims to counter the stressful – and grating – sounds of city living, which include Teams pings, subway screeches and news alerts, all of which can induce low-grade, chronic anxiety, according to Discover Halifax. To counter this, the audio campaign, which launched on May 25, features three binaural soundscapes that immerse listeners in real Halifax environments, including ocean waves, wind through trees and ferry horns.
“We position Halifax as the elixir to the stresses of urban living,” says Clare Tidby, VP of marketing and visitor experience at Discover Halifax. “And we know urbanites are under a lot of pressure. We wanted to reach people where their stress lives – on their commutes, during their doomscrolls and even on their runs and then offer them something they didn’t know they needed: the sounds of Halifax. This isn’t a tourism ad. It’s a moment of calm, right when they need it most.”
The campaign was developed in partnership with production company Village Works and includes the re-creation of a 33-minute ferry ride in Halifax, which was designed to match Toronto’s average commute time. Another binaural soundscape includes three-hour “Lawrencetown Beach Experience,” which is being billed as a longform ambient break for Sunday night doomscrollers. The campaign also includes the “Forest Trail Run,” which was created for Gen Z professionals running off their workday stress.
All soundscapes used binaural audio recording, which Discover Halifax describes as a technique that mimics how humans naturally hear in 3D, to maximize immersion and calm.
The media strategy, developed by Trampoline, is hyper-timed to behavioural patterns to include Sunday evenings: Lawrencetown Beach deployed during peak doomscrolling hours; Monday mornings: Ferry audio served during rush-hour commutes; and Weekday evenings: Forest run version targeted to fitness-minded users.
The campaign is distributed across Spotify, YouTube, LinkedIn, Instagram and programmatic audio and video, with creative tailored to platform tone and context.
“People know Halifax is beautiful,” Tidby says. “But in this moment, the real value proposition is how it makes you feel. This campaign lets people truly feel what a visit could do for them. Even if they can’t leave their city, they can get a few moments of relief.”
The campaign launches May 25 and will remain in-market until mid-June, with plans to extend the platform into fall and winter.
