The archive · Marketing & Growth · Marketing decision · 2018–2019
Panasonic turns birdsong into a hearing test you take on a forest walk
An app identifies wild birds by song; the high-pitched calls you can no longer hear reveal age-related hearing loss — a clinic test disguised as a nature walk.
Panasonic
What it had to solve
Japan's population is aging fast: one in nine people has age-related hearing loss and around half are unaware, because nobody visits a doctor just for a hearing test. Panasonic's hearing-instruments business needed people to notice high-frequency loss early.
How it works
Japan's population is aging fast, and with it comes age-related hearing loss: one in nine people has it, yet around half do not know, because hearing fades gradually and nobody visits a doctor just for a test. High-pitched sounds go first, which is why older people often struggle with certain birdsong.
Hakuhodo's idea was to turn that scientific fact into an experience. The agency built a mobile app holding the calls of more than 60 bird species along with GPS, geographic and habitat data, so it could tell a walker which wild birds were nearby. In the forest you open the app, it names the birds around you, and the high-pitched songs you can no longer hear quietly reveal your hearing level — a diagnostic dressed as a nature walk.
The test did not stay digital: about 1,000 Panasonic stores offered the same check in person, turning the campaign into foot traffic. The app covered more than 18,000 mountains and 12,500 lakes as test points, sales of Panasonic hearing instruments rose 26% against the same month a year earlier, and the work collected Silver and Bronze at Clio Health 2018 plus a Mobile Lotus Gold at ADFEST 2019.
Why it lands
- The diagnosis happens where the symptom lives — in nature — instead of a clinic, so the barrier of seeing a doctor disappears.
- Birdsong pitch maps onto the hearing spectrum, so the result is self-explanatory: a missing bird call means a missed frequency.
- Framed as a walk and a game, the test gave people a pleasant reason to engage with a subject they normally avoid.
- Bringing the test into 1,000 stores connected the awareness campaign to actual hearing-instrument sales.
What it did
The app turned more than 18,000 mountains and 12,500 lakes into hearing-test points, and sales of Panasonic hearing instruments rose 26% versus the same month a year earlier. The work took Silver and Bronze at Clio Health 2018 and a Mobile Lotus Gold at ADFEST 2019.
What you can take
When people avoid a clinical test, embed the diagnosis in an experience they already enjoy: the birds they stop hearing become the result they can feel.
Since then
Bird Hearing Test kept winning after launch, adding a Silver and a Bronze at Clio Health 2018 and the Mobile Lotus Gold at ADFEST 2019, and it stayed on Hakuhodo's site as a flagship example of turning a health diagnostic into a pleasant experience. For brands targeting aging consumers it showed that a public-health problem could be addressed through a product people choose to use — before they think they need help.
Sources
- Winners: Audio Lotus, Film Lotus, Branded Entertainment Lotus, Interactive Lotus & Mobile Lotus
- Bird Hearing Test | HAKUHODO
- 松下用鸟叫声做了一个听力测试，画风清新还防病
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