Global wins third Goodstuff Media Showcase with art sonification pitch

Global has won the 2024 Goodstuff Media Showcase, in which media owners pitched ideas to a room of agencies and advertisers, for the third time.

After learning about sonification — the process of turning data into sound — at a Nasa talk, Global director of creative strategy Nick Russell and agency manager George Pearce presented their idea of introducing this technology into art galleries for the visually impaired.

The technology would scan artwork and assign instruments to different elements, creating a bespoke piece of composition that represents that piece of art. Visitors to the gallery would be able to use Bluetooth-enabled tags to “hear” the art through an app.

Global is calling on commercial partners to fund the development of the technology and help provide media support, with the aim of rolling this out to art galleries in the UK first and then beyond.

“Hear a Peter Blake or a van Gogh or… Jackson Pollock,” Russell explained.

Of the eight pitches presented at the Goodstuff Media Showcase, an annual initiative from Stagwell agency Goodstuff Communications, the 350-strong audience voted Global their favourite.

Tech innovations

Cutting-edge technology played a key part in several other pitches.

Ocean Outdoor expanded its DeepScreen technology into skeletal tracking that would enable brands to create more interactive, 3D out-of-home (OOH) advertising, such as allowing passers-by to select and customise products live.

Trickshot, meanwhile, showcased 3D motion-capture technology that could transform sports viewing into immersive experiences.

To highlight the possibilities, Trickshot CEO Simon Thompson turned Goodstuff co-founder Andrew Stephens into Tottenham Hotspur’s Son Heung-min and inserted him into a real-life match.

Flashtalking by Mediaocean meanwhile presented a solution covering the entire advertising journey, from real-time creative to multichannel activation to audience measurement.

To highlight how quickly creative could be made by its team, Flashtalking invited rapper Chris Turner to take three ideas from the audience and, after he performed a freestyle impromptu rap based on those topics, the creative was immediately shown on the big screen.

Mental health resource

But there were also plenty of ideas that weren’t related to technology.

Bauer Media is seeking to extend its Where’s Your Head At? initiative, in partnership with YoungMinds, which encourages safer social media use by offering practical resources and advice across Bauer’s audio and publishing brands.

In May 2025, to mark Mental Health Awareness Week, Bauer will be urging brands to support the initiative with activity that includes a simulcast across its entire audio portfolio as well as articles on all of its magazines for maximum impact.

“So millions of people get that message at the same time,” Simon Myciunka, CEO at Bauer Media Audio UK, told the audience.

ITV sought partners to support a programme celebrating 70 years of TV advertising that it is launching in 2025. As well as the show itself, which will be promoted across all ITV properties, the broadcaster is also commissioning bespoke research, alongside System1 and D&AD, to “codify” what makes the best advertising.

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NBCUniversal leaned into the growing popularity of experiential activations with a “fun factory” that would house the broadcaster’s comedy properties, which include the US version of The Office, Parks and Recreation and Despicable Me’s Minion characters.

Advertisers would be able to sponsor the whole venue or one module, such as an arcade area or a mirror room, and appear seamlessly within NBCUniversal’s intellectual properties.

Meanwhile, Uber Advertising unveiled a national takeover with a “pay it forward” idea. Brands would be able to appear on every Uber app with advertising and also sponsor users “gifting time” to friends and family.

The showcase, now in its eighth year, was presented by Goodstuff chief strategy officer Paul Gayfer and chief client experience officer Genevieve Tompkins.