Sound Shopping

With inflation and rising interest rates adding pressure to many Canadian households, recent research commissioned by Interac found that six in ten shoppers (62%) are looking for tools which encourage intentional spending. As a brand that aims to help Canadians stay in control of their money, Interac set out to explore creative ways to help.

Music has traditionally been used to fuel purchase behaviours in retail, and given its recent development of a sonic ID, experimenting with how sound could positively impact and help add mindfulness to the shopping experience felt like a natural extension. Sound Shopping was created with this in mind. The integrated Sound Shopping campaign is informed by research, runs across multiple channels and has an original music track at the heart of the experience. The intent of the track is to trigger a more mindful shopping experience, tapping into the emotional response and behavioural impact music can have, as tempo, mode and instrumentation are leveraged in different ways.

To put the track to the test, shoppers across the country took part in an innovative research study whereby half the participants listened to the Sound Shopping track, while a control group listened to the standard pop style music that customers typically hear in stores. The participants observed that the Sound Shopping track made them feel calmer than those who listened to popular music and was associated with a 98% purchase satisfaction rate.