IF you’re a frozen yoghurt store in a gleaming metropolis, how do you catch people’s eye and drag them through the door?

Obviously, it helps if your yoghurt is popular, but sometimes you’ve got to take that extra step. With the assistance of interactive lighting studio Cinimod, yoghurt chain Snog unveiled an award-winning Chelsea store with a “ribbon ceiling” – a ceiling lined with undulating LED lights that flow and alters in response to the store’s music system.

Cinimod’s founder Dominic Harris said: “It’s the first time we’ve done a sound-reactive ceiling and we didn’t want to make it like a disco. Using the amBX system, you can leave it and the colours are continuously shifting.”

Tucked away in Middlesbrough’s Boho One building is an office owned by software company amBX. It seems like a basic space, with a couple of tables, some sofa chairs and a big TV. That is, until the lights come on.

“We know there’s nothing like this anywhere in the world”, says Sherod Walker, who handles business development for the company.

Basically, amBX is a software company that has created a piece of hardware called amBIENT XC, which controls the lighting and colour in a room. However, instead of creating pre-programmed effects that change on a timer or shuffle around on a loop, the box reacts to signals sent to the TV or music system. The result is a reactive-lighting system that generates effects unique to the media you’re watching or listening to, and it’s technology already being used internationally for everything from nightclubs to yoghurt shops, and from home cinemas to Gateshead’s GameHorizon conference.

Sales director Kevin Martin said: “The system reads the signal to the TV, and changes the lighting accordingly. For example, if there’s a blockbuster movie where the room is dark but there’s someone in that side of the room with a torch, that side of the room would be lit.

“It’s great for home cinema and exhibitions, but we’re also saying to corporates that if something like that is running in your reception area, you’ve got a sound and video show but also a lighting show. If you’re busy in the lobby, you can drop the sound and the light becomes the new sound.”

The company span out of Philips Research three years ago, and opened a base in Middlesbrough after receiving a £700,000 investment from backers including Northstar Ventures’ North East Accelerator Fund. It appointed a Middle East representative earlier this year, and is also receiving positive feedback in the USA and China.