Can you spot the references in Bold Scandinavia’s mind-bending SXSW activation for Epidemic Sound?

Boasting a world-class catalogue of music and sound effects – heard over 2.5 billion times per day – the global soundtracking platform Epidemic Sound will likely have crossed your ears at some point. “As the brand moves from simply providing a transactional audio library to becoming a true partner for creators,” says Bold Scandinavia’s Design Director Sidney Lim, “they’re diving head-first into creative brand campaigns and activations that can take them from resource to creative influence.” One of these, created with the expertise of Bold Scandinavia, is a campaign that debuted at South by South West (SXSW) 2025. “The brief was extremely open,” recalls Lim, where the task for the Stockholm-based design studio was to “grab the attention of major studios, agencies, production companies and streamers in the film and TV industry” while establishing Epidemic Sound as the destination for all their audio, music and soundtracking needs. The possibilities were limitless – they explored everything from conventional TV-style advertisements to vintage silent films in the public domain. “The more we ideated,” continues Lim, “the more we found it difficult to encapsulate all the immense creative possibilities that Epidemic Sound facilitates into one single idea – and this moved us closer and closer to the concept of an Epidemic Sound ‘multiverse’ of utterly off-kilter and insane ideas.” The campaign’s centrepiece – a rapid-fire visual assault that Lim describes as a “fever dream of genre-bending imagery” – showcases, in their words, what an “ocean-noir-post-yakuza-absurdist-culinary-office-survival-snowy-western-musical-revenge-anime-neo-greek-zombie-DIY-disaster-award-winning film” could look, sound, and feel like. Simple, right? The 15-second visual feast manages to compress what feels like a century of cinema (cinematic references that range from subtle nods to overt homages) into mere moments, celebrating and gently satirising film conventions. It unashamedly puts ‘Epidemic Sound’ in the forefront, making it the perfect direction to introduce the brand to new audiences.