Sound specialist advertising agency Laudhaus has created a new campaign for the University of Limerick (UL) and its UL Sport division with audio storytelling at its core. Built on the belief that everyone’s ‘best’ is within them, the ads show how the right environment, coaching, facilities, support and tribe, can help unleash such potential.
The campaign follows six UL sports scholarship athletes – Olympians, inter-county players, All-Stars and elite athletes. What gives the film standout is its bespoke soundtrack, composed using only recorded sounds of the athletes in action and edited together to make music. Laudhaus captured the real, physical sounds of the athletes on campus.
The film features swimmer and new junior world record holder Jon Shortt, rower Sadhbh Ní Laoighre, rugby player Catriona Finn, hurdler Fintan DeWhirst, boxer Nell McLaughlin (above) and hurler Diarmuid Stritch. Each was filmed and recorded in action across UL’s sports facilities, giving a sense of what it feels like to train, sweat and push boundaries.
When you design sound intentionally, you unlock a deeper emotional connection with your audience – Keith Lawler
A hurley can be heard scraping along a dressing-room floor, a medicine ball slapping concrete, boxing gloves on ambag, studs on concrete, the breath, clash, smacks and thuds all formed a library of sounds. The recordings became a soundtrack crafted in collaboration with award-winning artist and producer Murli (Denise Chaila, Rusangano Family).
Underused
Research shows that music is one of the most powerful emotional triggers. Studies found it activates pleasure centres quicker and more strongly than visual stimuli alone. “Sound is one of the most underused assets in brand building. It reaches the brain’s emotional centres in milliseconds, much faster than visuals do,” Laudhaus founder Keith Lawler said.
Watch the ad here
