We've been at it again. Ogilvy & Mather NYC asked us to score two new national Comcast TV spots, this time creating a score for the telecoms company's high-speed Gig wifi. The music needed a slight build of pace, without being overdramatic, with enough of a fanfare to give some breathing space to the final reveal. The trickiest element was balancing the electronic with the human, especially important given these spots were all about putting a human face to one of the world’s biggest tech companies.
We brought in LA based composer, D.O.B, to produce one piece of music that’d work over both spots. The results, well, we think they’re perfect.
Director: Brig White @ Tool
ECD's: Michael Patterson & Mak Koelfgen
Senior Producer: Jason Way
ACD's: Armando Zubieta & Jeff Asch
Editors at Lost Planet: Bruce Herman & Charlie Johnston
Music Supervisor: Karl Westman
Composer: D.O.B
Mother's latest spot for Stella Artois employs a drastic musical gear change to great effect, mirroring the entry of the magical central character as he instantly enlivens a party with his array of crowd-pleasing illusions. We were asked to find a track for the commercial that'd help reflect the energetic upturn at their swinging sixties soirée. Enter chanteuse, Liz Brady, part-French, part-Greek and born in Cairo, and her most-famous track, Palladium (The Hip). We're sure you'll agree this French classic brings just the right amount of bombast to proceedings.
Track: Palladium (The Hip)
Artist: Liz Brady
Agency: Mother
Production Company: Anonymous Content X Somesuch
Director: Joachim Black
Producer: Nick Goldsmith
DOP: Stephane Fontaine
Editor: James Norris
Post-production: MPC
Post-production supervisor: Bruno Fukumothi
Audio Facility: Wave
Sound Engineer: Parv Thind
We were thrilled when Ogilvy and Mather NYC asked us to score Comcast’s latest ad campaign.
Comcast is all about supporting the business network, no matter the scale of the company. We were asked to create a soundtrack to convey the very real challenges that face those businesses and we think our masterful composers did a fantastic job.
We brought in the Swedish genius, Marshman, to create a robust, yet elegant backdrop for the Bank and Enterprise spots. Keegan DeWitt and Jeremy Bullock, two impressively prolific LA composers that we’ve wanted to work with for some time scored the Voice spot for us. The task on Voice was to create a playful dance between the two (very different) business worlds in the spot … we think they completely nailed it!
The director of the campaign is the American cinematographer and film director, Walter C Pfister, A.S.C., who is best known for his work with Christopher Nolan, having picked up an Academy Award for Best Cinematography for his incredible work on Inception.
We had a blast bringing this all together with the team.
Director: Walter C Pfister, A.S.C
Agency: Ogilvy & Mather NYC
Music Supervisor: Karl Westman
Producer: Jason Way
Creative Directors: Michael Paterson & Mark Koelfgen
Art Director: Gonzalo Navarro
Writer: Sean Buckhorn
Composers:
Keegan DeWitt and Jeremy Bullock: Voice
Marshman: Bank + Enterprise
There’s an old joke about drummers being people that hang around with musicians.
The drum-only track on this spot we music supervised for Heineken blows that theory right out of the water. This deep dark groove is a custom composition produced for us by Carla Azar – quite simply one of the finest drummers on the planet. It’s been our mission to work with Carla since hearing her band, the L.A underground three piece, Autolux. Azar’s extraordinary drum skills have also landed her onstage with the likes of Jack White and T-Bone Burnett, amongst so many others. Carla Azar is that rare breed in music that’s becoming all-but-extinct - a true artist.
The spot was directed by Sebastian Strasser, who we’ve previously worked with on AUDI and BMW, and who most definitely knows how to bring all the components of a spot together for something that becomes greater than the sum of its parts.
The icing on the cake was when Sebastian asked our very own Raife to dust off his drumsticks to be the desert drumming astronaut that kicks off the spot. One giant step for… oh please!
Director: Sebastian Strasser
Composer: Carla Azar
Production Co: Radical Media
Producer: Ben Schneider
Agency: Publicis Italy
Agency Producer: Silvia Cattaneo
Creative Director: Marco Venturelli
Editor: Paul Hardcastle @ Trim
SFX: Raj @ GCRS
We’ve just music supervised Mercedes' stunning new worldwide C-Class advertIsing campaign.
Having previously worked with the powerhouse director, Sebastian Strasser, on his Audi and BMW campaigns, we knew we were going to need to bring in a heavyweight film composer to score his beautifully crafted spot.
We engaged the Grammy nominated composer, Lorne Balfe. Lorne's incredible music can be heard in blockbusters such as The Dark Night, Inception, Batman Begins, Pirates of the Caribbean and Iron Man. Sebastian asked for a score that reflected the spot’s seductive melancholy and that’s exactly what Lorne has given us.
Thanks to Christoph Petzenhauser for asking us to be part of the team.
Director: Sebastian Strasser
Composer: Lorne Balfe
Producer: Christoph Petzenhauser
Production Co: Anorak Film
Agency: Antoni/Berlin
Editor: Paul Hardcastle @ Trim
VFX: Time Based Arts
When you’re working for a long-standing, luxury auto marque like Mercedes you know you have to deliver something truly special. When Antoni Berlin asked us for an original track for this spot, simply titled ‘Fashion’, we knew LA-based underground producer and composer, D.O.B. would nail it.
The director of the spot is major league heavy hitter, Christian Larson. With him at the helm, plus Eliot Sumner starring, this was always destined to be a blockbuster of a commercial. D.O.B’s score only serves to ratchet up the tension and atmosphere to an almighty crescendo.
Director: Christian Larson
Composer: D.O.B
Producer: Felix Knabel & Björn Krüger
Production Co: Anorak Film
Agency: Antoni/Berlin
This Mercedes spot was directed by Christian Larson. We took one look at the initial ideas for the film and knew we had to go big with this particular composition. With a full-throttle narrative like that, we were determined to do the piece – and the product – justice.
Step up producer and composer, D.O.B. The guy has made his name on the notoriously competitive LA underground scene and definitely has the chops to deliver the goods. His score helps keep the adrenalin running high throughout the spot and syncs brilliantly with the action onscreen. Almost makes you want to throw your own TV out of the window!
Director: Christian Larson
Composer: D.O.B
Producer: Felix Knabel & Björn Krüger
Production Co: Anorak Film
Agency: Antoni/Berlin
Dirty Soup adds some sparkle to the latest campaign by Tiffany & Co.
When Ogilvy & Mather NYC asked us to score a collection of commercials for the world-famous jewelry store, Tiffany & Co, we couldn’t have been more up for the task ahead. The brief was to score instantly identifiable, timeless arrangements that could work with any classical instrumental line-up. We engaged top composer and session musician, Nikolaj Torp Larsen. Nikolaj has played with some of the biggest names in music. From contemporary artists such as Adele, Mark Ronson, Florence And The Machine and Lana Del Rey - and regularly playing sessions for the super heavyweight, Academy Award-winning producer, Paul Epworth, as well as lending his unique musical style to legendary artists such as The Specials, Klaus Voormann and Yusuf Islam – Nikolaj is a musical force in his own right. We were in no doubt he would deliver a timeless score to round off what was a truly beautiful campaign to work on.
Thanks to Kirsten Arongino and Ted Guard for asking us to be part of the team.
Production Co: Ogilvy & Mather NYC
Director: Keith Ehrlich
Producer: Kirsten Arongino
Editor: Ted Guard @ Rock Paper Scissors
Original Composition: Nikolaj Torp Larsen
When Rattling Stick director Ed Morris asked Dirty Soup to help him create a track for his new spot for the Royal Navy, we knew only British music royalty would do, so we called Bernard Butler to ask him if he'd record an original track for the campaign. As you can see from the film, the partnership between Ed and Bernard proved to be pretty dynamic.
Campaign Magazine had a chat with our very own Raife Burchell and the legendary Bernard Butler about how he came to write the soundtrack for the latest Royal Navy campaign.
Production co: Rattling Stick
Director: Ed Morris
Producer: Chris Harrison
Original Composition: Bernard Butler
Dirty Soup joined forces with JWT and the superstar director Jake Nava to create two very special tracks for the British Army’s 2014 and 2015 advertising campaigns.
When we say Jake's a big deal, we really do mean big. He's worked on music videos for artists including Beyonce and the Rolling Stones and directed advertising campaigns for the likes of Armani, Puma, Diet Coke, Bacardi and HSBC.
The story behind the spots was 'More Than Meets The Eye', so we knew we had to find a very special composer to score the music – someone not only talented, but capable of bringing something unexpected to the mix. That’s why we asked Faith SFX, one of the worlds greatest beatboxers to work his magic by recording the tracks by using only his unbelievable, all-natural skills. The combination of his vocal-only approach and Jake’s powerful visuals created something truly special. The results – as you can hear, well they're pretty astonishing!
Huge thanks to Rebecca Hunter at JWT for bringing us in to supervise the music!
Agency: JWT
Producer: Rebecca Hunter
Director: Jake Nava
Original Composition: Faith SFX
Dirty Soup joined forces with JWT and the superstar director Jake Nava to create two very special tracks for the British Army’s 2014 and 2015 advertising campaigns.
When we say Jake's a big deal, we really do mean big. He's worked on music videos for artists including Beyonce and the Rolling Stones and directed advertising campaigns for the likes of Armani, Puma, Diet Coke, Bacardi and HSBC.
The story behind the spots was 'More Than Meets The Eye', so we knew we had to find a very special composer to score the music – someone not only talented, but capable of bringing something unexpected to the mix. That’s why we asked Faith SFX, one of the worlds greatest beatboxers to work his magic by recording the tracks by using only his unbelievable, all-natural skills. The combination of his vocal-only approach and Jake’s powerful visuals created something truly special. The results – as you can hear, well they're pretty astonishing!
Huge thanks to Rebecca Hunter at JWT for bringing us in to supervise the music!
Agency: JWT
Producer - Rebecca Hunter
Director: Jake Nava
Original Composition - Faith SFX
We music supervised Sebastian Strasser's latest BMW campaign. Having previously worked with Seb on his spectacular 'Audi Mechanics' spot, we knew the score had to be anything but ordinary – that’s why we brought in the Swedish musical wizard, Tobias Norberg, AKA Marshman, to compose an original track for Seb's director's cut. The result, a breathtaking vocal-soaked assault on the ears.
When we were asked to find an existing track for this Beck's Sapphire Super Bowl spot, we had a sneaking suspicion that Chet Faker's incredible cover of No Diggity was going to grab all of the attention during that hugely important half time slot. Guess what, it did. Mission accomplished.
Artist: Chet Faker
Track: No Diggity
Radical Media, Berlin asked us to help sort the music for Sebastian Strasser's latest Audi spot.
It was easy to see from the storyboard that we were going to need an epic score to back up Sebastian’s epic creative vision. So we brought in the genius LA-based composer, Robert Cairns to flex his muscle. And never ones to go half way, we flew out to LA to record the drums with the mighty Carla Azar (Autolux/Jack White), while the masterful Gus Seffert (Beck/Black Keys) took on the synth and bass duties to complete what was one hell of a ride.
Thanks to Christoph Petzenhauser for asking us to be part of the team.
Production Co: Radical Media/Berlin
Director: Sebastian Strasser
Producer: Christoph Petzenhauser
Original Composition: Rob Cairns
Honda are a global brand that are known for their great commercials. That's why we knew when we helped them to sort out music for a major TV spot – the track choice had to be on point.
The ad is all about finding your headspace – for some that means yoga and for others it means hitting the fairway. We wanted music that would reflect the contrast between those pursuits and the raw power of riding one of Honda's motorcycles. So we went for a chilled-out operatic piece by composer Brice Davoli.
Artist: Brice Davoli
Track: Luna Mia Cara
For a vibrant, exciting spot like this for Honda Motorcycles we knew we needed a track that would really have people stomping their feet. After scouring the airwaves we settled on Hanni El Khatib's hard-riffing, I Got A Thing. We dare you to take a listen and try to tell us we made the wrong choice.
Thanks to Kream London for asking us to be involved.
Artist: Hanni El Khatib
Track: I Got A Thing
18 bikes, 3 weeks and miles of tarmac saw Honda travel to Slovenia using the beauty of the Alps to frame Honda’s new collection and capture the spirit of Honda’s exciting new collection of motorbikes for 2014... and we sorted the music.
Thanks to Kream London for asking us to be involved.
Original composition by Maxwell Scott
Director Sebastian Strasser’s latest for Audi is a playful, off-kilter spot, and we helped develop a track to reflect that anything-but-ordinary vibe. The track in question is called Gingua, and it’s built out of chopped up vocal lines, bringing together atmospheres, singing and rhythms into something sonically singular – a true sit-up-and-take-notice sound that makes your ears prick up and your fingertips tingle.
The track comes care of the prodigiously-talented, Berlin-based recording artist, Toni Kater. Her career kicked off as a teenager when she ran away from home and came back with a publishing contract in her pocket. Since then she's released five studio albums and regularly composes music for motion pictures and theatre.
Check out Sebastian's directors cut.
Artist: Toni Kater
Track: Gingua
Director: Sebastian Strasser
Agency:Thjink Berlin
Agency Producer - Julia Koop
Managing Creative Director: Stefan Schulte
Creative Director - Siyamak Jung
Managing Director Thjnk - Hendrik Heine
Production Co: Anorak Film Berlin
Executive Producer: Tobias Steinhauser
Post Production Producer: Björn Krüger
Line Producer: Lars Flegel
Editor: Sam Sneade @ Speade London
DoP: Julian Hohndorf
Production Designer: Colin Taplin
Casting Director: Julia Todorow @Bloomcasting
VFX Supervisor: Stephen Grasso
VFX: Time Based Arts London
When CHI & Parters asked us to music supervise their latest Samsung HD online campaign, we knew there was only one person to ask to take on the score. Walter Mair, one of the finest composers in the business brought the commercial to life with this epic original composition.
Agency: CHI & Partners
Producer: Nikki Cramphorn & Imogen Bell
Original Composition: Walter Mair
Check out the irresistible track that we placed in Asda's ‘Back to School’ commercial for top London agency, Fallon, directed by Gerogi Banks Davies at Friend.
It’s by the extremely joyous 29-member Swedish pop collective I'm From Barcelona. We’ve been in love with their song 'Battleships' for a while, so we’re over the moon that it’s gone to a happy home!
Artist: I'm From Barcelona
Track: Battleships
Japanese Rockabilly girl band for George @ Asda? Well of course! We worked again with Fallon to find the perfect track for George.com and Asda's kids campaign. ‘Woo Hoo’ by the Japanese rock/surf/pyschobilly girl trio, The 5.6.7.8’s, could not have been a better fit. Ridiculously upbeat, bursting with energy, and just the right side of intensely irritating! But enough about the kids in the ad … the music was ace!
Artist: The 5.6.7.8's
Track: Woo Hoo
JWT London asked us to music supervise the music for a collection of online ‘How To’ tutorial videos for Toni & Guy, the global hair styling super brand.
Thanks to Rebecca Hunter from JWT for asking us to be involved.
Artist: Max Frost
Track: White Lies
JWT London asked us to music supervise the music for a collection of online ‘How To’ tutorial videos for Toni & Guy, the global hair styling super brand.
Thanks to Rebecca Hunter from JWT for asking us to be involved.
Artist: Hallow & Akimbo
Track: Solar Plexis
JWT London asked us to music supervise the music for a collection of online ‘How To’ tutorial videos for Toni & Guy, the global hair styling super brand.
Thanks to Rebecca Hunter from JWT for asking us to be involved.
Artist: Opossom
Track: Blue Meanies
JWT London asked us to music supervise the music for a collection of online ‘How To’ tutorial videos for Toni & Guy, the global hair styling super brand.
Thanks to Rebecca Hunter from JWT for asking us to be involved
Artist: Les Bonbons
Track: London Town
We were over the moon when Space NK, the global cosmetic brand, asked us to music supervise their latest online campaign. Check out the results here.
Original Compositions by Nick Phillips
