Gatwick’s Yangtze River installation engages passengers with WWF and HSBC work
Melanie May | 16 November 2016 | News
An interactive sound experience celebrating HSBC’s Water Programme and its 15-year partnership with WWF by bringing China’s 6,300km Yangtze River to Gatwick airport has now been seen by over 7.2m passengers.
The Living River, a 194m long Gatwick Skybridge installation, launched last November and uses actual sounds recorded on the river. According to WWF, with over 7.2 million passengers crossing the Skybridge each year, so far the installation has created 14.4 million minutes of engagement with the WWF and HSBC brands and the work of the Water Programme.
A research sample taken post-launch also showed that nearly two-thirds of travellers across a broad demographic spectrum thought the installation was thought provoking.
According to the charity, the installation is the world’s longest and most advanced soundscape to have been created in an airport. The sounds change according to the time of the day, the weather on the Yangtze and the movements of the travellers to give a unique journey no matter how many times a passenger travels down the Skybridge.
[youtube height=”450″width=”800″]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfTRRX36xJI[/youtube]
The installation features over 100 hours of sounds taken from 35 locations on the Yangtze and transmitted by 160 speakers through 80 channels to immerse travellers in 3D sound. It also features a wall of imagery shot along the Yangtze River, showcasing the wildlife, nature, and people of the river.
The ideas for the installation and eventual sound experience were created by J. Walter Thompson London in collaboration with in-house event and experiential team. JWT Live. The soundscape was created in partnership with sound designer Nick Ryan.
The HSBC Water Programme is the latest phase of the partnership between WWF and HSBC, and works to help safeguard freshwater resources across Asia, Africa and Latin America.
The installation will remain at Gatwick airport until May 2017.
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About Melanie May
Melanie May is a journalist and copywriter specialising in writing both for and about the charity and marketing services sectors since 2001. She can be reached via thepurplepim.com.