A few weeks ago, Thinkerbell and the Transport Accident Commission (TAC) introduced Australia to the country’s deadliest predator. Speeding.

Sound studio, Eardrum, created the unsettling audio experience that aimed to shock Australians into understanding the danger of speed they had been ignoring. It used a striking creative idea by Eardrum founding creative director, Ralph van Dijk.

When Thinkerbell approached Eardrum for this campaign, which highlights that speeding claims more lives than snakes, sharks, or spiders combined, Ralph van Dijk proposed a bold idea – create the entire soundscape using nothing but speed and automotive sounds.

An unnerving spoundtrack was created with with MassiveMusic head of sound, Abigail Sie. Each sound effect was distorted and reshaped until the mechanical became animalistic. Revs became growls, screeching tyres became bird screeches, and speeding cars on gravel became snakes, all hinting at something lurking, something deadly.

Here’s how it was achieved:

“We suggested the idea without really knowing how realistic we could make it”, van Dijk stated. “But once the team started bending and twisting the literal sounds, a range of beastly, organic creatures began to emerge in our imagination. Unsettling while still strangely familiar.”

Here’s the audio result:

The soundscape forms a core part of TAC and Thinkerbell’s integrated initiative, Australia’s Deadliest Predator, which challenges Australians to reconsider what they really fear. While sharks and snakes capture the imagination, it is speeding that silently stalks Victorian roads, claiming hundreds of lives each year.

And here’s the campaign’s story:

Credits:
Creative Agency: Thinkerbell
Client: TAC
Audio Production Company: Eardrum
Audio Director: Ralph van Dijk
Recording Studio: MassiveMusic
Sound Designer: Abby Sie
Film Production: Thinkerbell
Activation Production: Graffiti