Last week* I found out that those grooves in the road that make a weird sound when you drive over them are called rumble strips. This was amusing to me for two reasons: 1) because I thought it was a funny name and 2) because I was happy to learn something new and had that weird feeling of finding out something new and different about something that you’ve known about for a long time.
While writing this post, I remembered this cool idea an ad agency had for a Honda Civic ad involving none other than rumble strips. Here’s some background info for you via Very Short List.
Here’s the quick skinny: The Santa Monica ad agency RPA cut half-inch grooves into a quarter-mile stretch of Avenue K, in the exurban L.A. desert city of Lancaster. The grooves were synched in such a way that driving over them at precisely 55mph caused Rossini’s “William Tell Overture” — a.k.a. the Lone Ranger theme — to echo in the air around you. Well, not so fast, Kemosabe! Avenue K borders a quiet subdivision, the RPA failed to take variables such as tire pressure into account, and the Civic ad became a civic nuisance. The road has already been repaved, but YouTube is loaded with clips of drivers getting their grooves on. As for the ad? It was due to air in September, but as of today, we’re still waiting!
Here’s a video of the road from inside a car:
*It could have been longer than that, I have a horrible concept of time and only speak in the general terms of yesterday, last week, last month or last year, so a lot of approximate, inaccurate rounding occurs.
Weird, I was just telling Michael at work about this ad. Such an awesome concept!
I know! They’re making it out to be some sort of disaster or something, but I think it’s awesome and totally achieved its goal. Although I must admit I would be chilled to the bones if I drove over the rumble strips just right and the song played. I would think I’d developed spontaneous auditory hallucinations.