HEAR VOICES? IT MAY BE AN AD; A&E takes eerie approach with billboard that 'whispers' a spooky message audible only in your head in push to promote its new 'Paranormal' program.(News)(A&E Television Networks)

Advertising Age, December, 2007 by Hampp, Andrew

Byline: ANDREW HAMPP

New yorker Alison Wilson was walking down Prince Street in SoHo last week when she heard a woman's voice right in her ear asking, "Who's there? Who's there?'' She looked around to find no one in her immediate surroundings. Then the voice said, "It's not your imagination.''

Indeed it isn't. It's an ad for "Paranormal State,'' a ghost-themed series premiering on A&E this week. The billboard uses technology manufactured by Holosonic that transmits an "audio spotlight'' from a rooftop speaker so that the sound is contained within your cranium. The technology, ideal for museums and libraries or environments that require a quiet atmosphere for isolated audio slideshows, has rarely been used on such a scale before. For random passersby...

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