Adtunes presents the Top Ad Music of 2009. Here is our annual list of some memorable ad music from the past year.
10. Disco Shack
A trend we noticed in 2009: Companies shortening their names. For example, the new Jack in the Box logo would prefer you were on a first name basis with "Jack" and not notice the "in the Box" so much. Pizza Hut would like to be known as "The Hut". And RadioShack spent the year running a series of commercials asking you to refer to them as "The Shack".
As part of that campaign, one RadioShack commercial invited you to visit the mythical "Phonelandia" to learn that "The Shack Sells More Phones than the Population of Scandinavia." The song comes courtesy of the Swedish band DiscoCrew with their song Husvagn "Är vi framme snart?" (translation: Caravan "Are we there yet?"). A Swedish band (a group that promises "100% Party") in a Swiss themed ad about the population of Scandinavia? For that Adland gives The Shack an F in geography. Locations aside, we give the ad the nod for using a quirky foreign soundtrack -- the group even returned for a "Holiday in Phonelandia".
We are really pleased about this, as we aren't just a part of something we don’t believe in for the sake of a bigger audience. We are psyched about this movie! We are all fans of Tim Burton, and Shane Acker’s original short entitled “9”, was brilliant, and even Timur Bekmambetov of “Wanted” is a producer on this movie. So obviously we are really proud to be on the trailer.
Creative directors love proposing risqué ad concepts like the one featured in the Schick Quattro for Women TrimStyle commercial (or the UK version by Wilkinson Sword) -- the surprise is when they actually get approved and make it to air, especially in the U.S. market. The Quattro woman's razor commercial shows, quite literally, how different bushes can be trimmed and styled.
The song from the Quattro TV spot is "I'm Not the Girl" by LMNTL and Angela McCluskey. McCluskey is no stranger to Adtunes -- she provided vocals for "Breathe" by Télépopmusik used in a now famous Mitsubishi commercial. For the "I'm Not the Girl" track produced by LMNTL, McCluskey lends her otherworldly voice, although the singer had some misgivings about the version used in the ad.
In the recent holiday ad featuring Santa visiting a Mercedes-Benz factory, a whimsical piano arrangement can be heard. The same piece of music can be heard in recent movie trailers for Disney's Oceans and How to Train Your Dragon. That piano and strings arrangement was not taken from a movie soundtrack (a popular source of trailer music), it is a piece of licensed production music called "Tinker Spell" and comes from the company Extreme Music. We asked Cindy Chao, of Extreme Music, to explain more about their music production library:
Extreme Music provides high quality, high end, well produced music of all genres for use in professional productions of all shapes and sizes and in any and all media. As this music is solely for this purpose, and therefore not released commercially, it is incredibly good value to license in comparison to a chart hit for instance.
The "Tinker Spell" track was created for Extreme Music by composer Stephen Rees. We asked Stephen Rees about the process of writing music for a music library versus composing for a single film or project:
When writing music for a specific project I'll work closely with the director or producer to tailor that music exactly to their production, whereas for library music I'm writing the music before I'm even aware of what the production is. In the case of production music, I think the best music libraries like Extreme maintain a close relationship with their clients. They know the kind of music that clients find most useful in terms of style and structure and then brief composers such as myself of their needs. So when writing production music my job is just to follow that brief. Similarly, when writing music for a specific film, my job is to follow a brief which in that case would come from the director or producer of that film.
Like many versatile library tracks, "Tinker Spell" is not limited to high profile movie trailers and luxury car commercials. It has been used in a wide variety of ads including plastic surgery, men's clothing, candy bars, and cartoons. Thanks to members of the Adtunes Forum, "Tinker Spell" was identified after a long search, which isn't always an easy task when it comes to licensed production music. In this case, composer Rees appreciates the attention: I'm delighted that there are people that have enjoyed my music enough that they have taken the time to find out more about it.
The best pairing of music with an effective ad concept of the year might be the Bacardi Mojito "Eras" commercial. The TV spot for the world's number one selling rum shows a man traveling back in time in search of a refill by walking through a series of dance halls, each representing a different era of the 20th century. The settings and costumes of the dancers may change, but the signature Bacardi Mojito cocktail stays the same. What really helps the timeless quality of the commercial is the upbeat song heard through out each set piece, "Daylight" by Matt and Kim. The tone of the song may seem an unlikely choice for time traveling through decades worth of clubs, but in the end the Matt and Kim song works well with the ad. (We're not sure how well "Daylight" translated into "Simlish" works as part of The Sims 3 World Adventures video game, however.)
Does the song featured in the Zappos.com shoe commercial known as "Step In" sound familiar? Although many have confused the dance pop track as coming from the band The Go! Team, it is actually from a different band. The track from the ad is called "Blacklight Poster Children Theme" by, you guessed it, Blacklight Poster Children.
The Blacklight Poster Children is led by singer Nik Frost and drummer Ray Blanco from the group The Bangkok Five (a band recently featured in a Ford commercial) along with what they call "'special guests' from the influential Southern California indie rock scene". Ray Blanco on how the Blacklight Poster Children project came about:
While writing new tB5 [The Bangkok Five] music, Frost & myself came to the conclusion that we had lots of music that needed to come out that wasnt for tB5, so we started a new project. Less than 3 weeks later, we have written and recorded a new record, started a new band, and have the support from Zappos in all of their new commercials.
The band used guest musicians including guitarist Jet Freedom of The Nymphs. The Blacklight Poster Children is part of the label Authentik Artists, a Los Angeles based "content company" which concentrates on music licensing.
Comparisons to The Go! Team aside, we think the Zappos commercial and song matches well with the shoe retailer's "Powered by Service" campaign.
The 2010 Toyota Prius "Harmony" commercial shows the Prius traveling through an animated whimsical landscape, designed to show how the hybrid can commune with nature. The acapella soundtrack for the ad comes courtesy of singer Petra Haden, performing her all-vocal version of "Let Your Love Flow".
Created by Saatchi & Saatchi LA, the 2010 Toyota Prius campaign was given the title: "Harmony Between Man, Nature and Machine." The Prius commercial was one of the most well received commercial campaigns of the past year. (As to how well the actual 2010 Toyota Prius does in the new year, that remains to be seen.)
The Toyota campaign did prove to be a success for performer Petra Haden. She most recently worked as a vocal coach and arranger for the acapella NBC reality show called Sing Off.
History is repeating itself this year with another popular song: "1901" by Phoenix. The track by the French alternative rock band became the soundtrack for a series of ads for the 2010 Cadillac SRX crossover SUV.
Titles for the Cadillac commercials featuring "1901" include: "Stills", "Fluid", and "Facets". The Phoenix album cover art even makes a cameo appearance in one Cadillac ad. The SRX campaign was created by ad agency Modernista, which represents a swan song for the agency as their relationship with GM ended this past year.
In this case, Modernista saved it's best Cadillac campaign for it's last. (No more ads with actress Kate Walsh asking if your car turns you on.) In using the track by Phoenix, the ad campaign strikes the right balance between a modern soundtrack with the right high end visuals. This isn't always easy when marketing a luxury car brand. Phoenix lead singer Thomas Mars talked about the origin of the song "1901":
It's a song about Paris. Because Paris in 1901 was better than what it is now. Still nice, but 1901 is better. So this is the fantasy about Paris.
The song comes from the band's fourth album Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix. Phoenix, along with the "1901" single and Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix album, is easily one of the most well received acts of 2009, toppingcountless"best of"yearendmusiclists. The group also earned their first Grammy nomination for "Best Alternative Album".
TV spots for the new series created a buzz before Glee even aired and represented a big shift in how networks launch a new series. The show about a misfit show choir performing cover songs quickly became popular with both fans and critics, recently earning four Golden Globe nominations.
Considering the Journey cover was so heavily featured in Glee promotions by Fox, did the show help solidify the power ballad as some sort of pop culture touchstone? Even (former) Journey lead singer Steve Perry approved of the Glee version of the iconic song:
I would give it an A. I think they did a good job. A+ is reserved for the original. That's a little shameless promotion, forgive me.
The public seemed to agree, as the Glee cast version of "Don't Stop Believin" was just certified Gold (with over 500,000 digital downloads), along with over 2 million downloads of Glee songs from the show's soundtrack. The Glee soundtrack is another example of television acting as life support to an ailing music industry. If there still is any doubt about the success of the series, look no further than the dominance of the pop music charts: 25 songs from Glee have reached the Billboard Hot 100 in 2009, the highest number by a single act in one year since The Beatles.
Missed the first half of Glee Season 1? It's already available on DVD.
For the 2010 Lincoln MKZ commercial, (also known as "Light Speed") the Ford Motor Company commissioned Shiny Toy Guns to record a version of the Peter Schilling 1980s song "Major Tom (Coming Home)". Reflecting the recent trend of musicians working more closely with advertisers, Shiny Toy Guns' new cover was created as an initial part of the Lincoln ad campaign, rather than as an afterthought. Shiny Toy Guns founder and musician, Jeremy Dawson: "[Team] Detroit asked us firstly to make a tiny version of the song that they could turn into a commercial ... then that moved into recreating the entire song from scratch." Shiny Toy Guns manager Jim Welch highlights the advantages of this type of arrangement:
This was so much more exciting to us than just having previously recorded music licensed and then made to fit the visual commercial. By creating the music simultaneously with the visuals in the commercial, I believe that the mood and feel synergized perfectly, making it so much more artistically pleasing and therefore more effective/successful commercial.
The Lincoln MKZ "shooting comet" commercial (with animation by Digital Domain) follows the space theme of several recent Lincoln ads. In addition to that theme, the MKZ spot also continues the Lincoln tradition of using cover songs, which are a popular choice in part because they represent the "something old, something new" sweet spot for advertisers: the marriage of a favorite song with a new rendition. "The Lincoln team was very specific in aligning Lincoln's core values with the idea of bridging catalog music and contemporary artists. It was a collaborative process with agency's creative team headed up by Greg Braun (of Team Detroit). Shiny Toy Guns were chosen out of hundreds of bands based on their body of work," according to Creative License CEO Kevin McKiernan.
The debut of "Major Tom" in the Lincoln ad turned out to be a success for both the car company and Shiny Toy Guns. For Lincoln, the ad gained attention quickly. As McKiernan points out: "It spread like wild fire in the early stages and almost a year later is still gaining traction." Dawson and the band also saw a positive response: "We saw an immediate reaction. It was really surprising to us because we weren't really sure how many people would see the commercial and actually try to figure out who the act was."
Prior to the commercial release of the song, Lincoln purchased a limited number of downloads of "Major Tom" from the band and Universal Music Group in order to offer it as a free download. "They went fast once we hit Twitter [and] Facebook." according to a Ford rep. Following the success of the "Major Tom", the car company commissioned Shiny Toy Guns to cover the Blue Öyster Cult song "Buring For You" for a follow-up 2010 Lincoln MKS commercial. Lincoln is offering a free download of "Burnin' for You" by Shiny Toy Guns for a limited time.
For those that may still question the idea of popular musicians creating music for advertising, invoking the outdated "selling out" cliche, Dawson puts it best:
When our fans see us on television or in a film instead of frowning upon this like we were "selling out" they smile in agreement. When a good friend of yours gets a raise at his job you don't call him and make fun of him and key his car, you instead pat him on the back and buy him a drink. This is the reaction that we get from our fans when they see us working on these sorts of projects.
"Major Tom" is featured on the new Shiny Toy Guns remix album Girls Le Disko.
Tuesday night featured the annual CBS 2009 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show hosted by Heidi Klum (who recently adopted her husband Seal's last name and is now Heidi Samuel). In addition to her usual show hosting duties, Klum decided to walk the runway at the last minute, something unexpected since she gave birth to her fourth child just six weeks earlier:
"I felt great the night of the fashion show and decided last minute to walk. I'm proud of being the curvy model on the Victoria’s Secret stage."
This year's Victoria's Secret runway show broadcast was filmed at the Lexington Avenue Armory in New York, featuring a large V shaped glitter filled stage. The show was divided into five segments featuring a different theme: Star Trooper, All Aboard, Pink Planet, Enchanted Forest and Romantic Journey. As Victoria's Secret show stylist Charlotte Stockdale puts it:
"We came up with the idea of this girl who lands from outer space in Paris. She gets on a train that comes to a halt in Pinkland, where pink girls get on and off. Then they go into this fairy-tale forest and little lady bugs and butterflies land on them and vines grow up on their clothes. Then, there's Tick-Tock Time; the wings in this section are based on clocks -- there's one modeled after a pocket watch with metallic feathers. And she ends up in this regal realm of princess-ness, where the wings have Swarovski jewels and peacock feathers."
Live music performances featured two songs from the the Black Eyed Peas and the New York Global Singers performing with the Leona Lewis song "Happy".
Runway music for the show was produced by Jeremy Healy, who has held the title of Music Designer of the annual televised Victoria's Secret Fashion Show since 2001. For this year's Victoria's Secret TV show, Healy featured two Kings of Leon songs in runway mashups:
When you think of traffic lights, reincarnation, mind reading, and jugglers, do you think of the Palm Pre cellphone?
That's the range of topics translucent skinned actress Tamara Hope (playing a character Palm is calling "Anima") discusses in a strange series of Palm Precellphonecommercials. The ads with the blonde actress speaking softly about the metaphysical properties of the Palm Pre have gained attention, although it may not be what the phone maker intended, if Twitter user comments are any indication. The Palm Pre ad campaign has already spawnedseveralparodies. The surreal talking head Palm ads offer a stark contrast to the more conventional Sprint Now Network commercials (one featuring the song "Doorway" by Io Echo) that also highlight the Palm Pre.
Created by ad agency Modernista, the new Palm Pre commercials followed a slightly different launch commercial called "Flow" (which used the song "Lower Your Eyelids to Die with the Sun" by M83) that featured the blonde actress along with a group of dancers (clearly "inspired" by the opening ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics), helmed by film director Tarsem Singh.
Gary Koepke, the Palm ad campaign's executive creative director, responded to charges the Palm campaign is too "creepy":
"We weren't trying to creep people out, but one thing I have learned now in this digital age is people can be as rude as they want as long as they don't have to look you in the face," Mr. Koepke said. "The Pre is probably being talked about more than other phones right now because of the marketing and advertising, and that's a good thing. Could the ads work harder to show exactly how the phone works? Yes, but we knew it would be polarizing people to have a woman not shout at them and tell an interesting story."
Although a new ad for the Pre seems to appear every day, music used in Palm Pre tv spots include: "Doot Doot" by Freur, "Tunnel" by The Dining Rooms, "Buildings and People" by Marconi Union, and "Knuddelmaus" by Ulrich Schnauss.
For a new 2010 Toyota Prius commercial, Toyota commissioned the services of a distinct vocal harmony on the song "Let Your Love Flow" to complement the sunny visuals created for their popular auto:
For this 3rd generation Toyota Prius commercial, singer Petra Haden sings an a capella cover version of "Let Your Love Flow" (originally by The Bellamy Brothers), singing all the parts of the song herself, with no instruments. Toyota has produced a series of commercials all featuring vocals by Haden, including Prius ads called "Harmony", "MPG", and "Solar". Each TV spot highlights different aspects of the Toyota Prius.
Originally by 1980s German synthpop musician Peter Schilling, "Major Tom (Coming Home)" is one of several songs referencing the fictional astronaut Major Tom character created by David Bowie. Major Tom first appeared in the song "Space Oddity" by Bowie. Given that connection to the same Bowie character, it only makes sense that the new Lincoln ad features an "ad song sequel" to the previous 2009 Lincoln MKZ "Liftoff" commercial. That ad uses a cover of "Space Oddity" by artist Cat Power. (Which sadly, like all Cat Power TV commercial cover songs, is not available to the public.)
Apart from their new cover song in the Lincoln TV spot, the group Shiny Toy Guns are no strangers to TV commercial ad music -- their song "Le Disko" was featured in a Motorola Motorola RAZR 2 commercial.
In a move that more companies are finally starting to embrace, Lincoln has posted the song "Major Tom (Coming Home)" as a free download on their official website. It is good to see an American automaker doing something right.
Update: Well it looks like we spoke too soon. Lincoln has removed the free song download from their site. It must have been the "American automaker doing something right" comment that jinxed it. According to a rep for Ford on Twitter: Our initial agreement w/ Shiny Toy Guns was 30K downloads. They went fast once we hit twitter, facebook. Sorry could not get more
