WithFeeling led the sound strategy at Expo 2020 Dubai. Sonic branding, original music, brand voices and sound design for one of the largest world expos ever staged. The theme song “This Is Our Time,” written and produced by WithFeeling co-founder Joe Dickinson, went to number one in the MENA region.
- Client
- Expo 2020 Dubai
- Agency
- WithFeeling
- Awarded
- See Awards
Sound
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THIS IS OUR TIME.
Expo 2020 Dubai welcomed millions of visitors across six months. Every pavilion needed a voice. Every brand moment needed music. Every transition needed sound.
WithFeeling led the sonic strategy from end to end, building a full audio identity that ran from the theme song to brand voices, from audio guides to broadcast.
Sound
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THE CHALLENGE
A world expo is not one event. It is hundreds of moments held together by one experience.
Expo 2020 Dubai needed a sonic identity that could carry a global audience through six months, across pavilions, ceremonies, broadcast, audio guides and brand activations. The sound had to feel modern, optimistic and unmistakably ours.
It also had to deliver a sense of place. A visitor arriving at the gates had to feel what it is like to enter the UAE: welcoming, tolerant, dignified, international, local, and youthful.
Sound
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THE APPROACH
WithFeeling led the sound strategy at Expo 2020 Dubai. Joe Dickinson, our co-founder, wrote and produced the official theme song “This Is Our Time.” From its four-note hook we built the sonic brand identity, a distinctive musical signature that uniquely defined Expo 2020 and immediately differentiated it as a brand.
Across the project we delivered original music, sound design, brand voices, audio guides and full audio post-production for the event’s most important moments.
For brand voices, we worked with Safia Al Shehi: a clear, familiar and intelligible accent across perfect Classical Arabic and English with an Emirati intonation. Warm, friendly, informed, fun, educated and proud. We used Safia for all pre-event communication so that when the event opened, every visitor was greeted by a voice they already knew.
THE RESULT
“This Is Our Time” went to number one in the MENA region. The four-note hook became the sound of Expo 2020 Dubai, recognisable across stages, broadcast and every brand touchpoint.
The audio guides accompanied millions of visitors through the site with composed thematic variations and curated soundscapes shaped to each pavilion and moment.
Six months of moments, anchored by a single sonic identity that gave the world expo its voice and helped define what a modern mega-event sounds like.
THE MUSIC VIDEO
INSIDE THE PAVILIONS
Expo Explorer — English
Expo Explorer — Arabic
THE FULL SONIC TOOLKIT
THE STORY OF THE SOUND
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