I saw this amazing ad from Optus, Australia’s second largest telecommunications company, and I couldn’t help but share it with you all:
After sharing this video on Facebook, someone asked me if the ad was real, so I decided to do a little research. The ad was inspired by Humpback Acoustic Research Collaboration (HARC), collaborative project between researchers at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO), the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), Australia’s Defence Science and Technology Organization (DSTO), and the University of Queensland (UQ). The goal of HARC is to investigate how whales interact with the environment in the presence of anthropogenic noise.
Male humpback whales are known for the ‘love songs’ that they compose to serenade the females. Each composition contains up to 20 vocalizations, which are combined to make a unique song that can last hours, and the song evolves throughout the singing season.
The Whale Song project for Optus was led by Noise Creative Director Bruce Heald, who used musicians familiar with their instruments to perform element of real whale songs that could be recognizably musical to humans. He then composed a song that would demonstrate the possible overlap in what humans and whales might consider beautiful music.
This has got to be one of the coolest projects I have ever seen! Kudos to all those involved.
