They’re not part of the MTV generation, but their music is driving some of the most seen and talked about commercials on television these days. Artists like Bob Dylan, James Taylor, Michael McDonald, David Bowie, and the late Freddie Mercury of Queen have songs that are integral parts of ads for the likes of Victoria’s Secret, MCI, Audi and Viagra—and all but McDonald were born in the 1940s. The songs aren’t just background music, either. They’re upfront, they’re immediately recognizable and, in several cases, the artists themselves appear in the spots.
AUDI
When Audi had an ad window this year in which it could do a spot touting the "Never Follow" brand image rather than a specific new model, its agency, McKinney + Silver, Raleigh, N.C., wanted the commercial to use music from an artist who personified that same image. Further, the concept of "Progressions," directed by Lance Acord of Park Pictures, New York, was to show various things getting progressively more innovative and modern. For instance, one series of images features a wheel of a wheelbarrow, then a bicycle wheel, then the tire of an old-fashioned car, and finally the spinning alloy rim of an Audi (see Top 10 chart, p. 16).
The challenge was to carry that idea over to the music. "We looked for people who also are ‘never follow,’ " says David Cook, a group creative director at the agency on Audi. "While we were producing the commercial, we were in talks with David Bowie and listening to all his music. What we thought would be a good idea in this ‘never follow’ spirit was to try to do a mash-up between one of his old songs, ‘Rebel, Rebel,’ and one of his new songs, ‘Never Gonna Get Old’—to create a new piece of music out of an old song and a new song."
To further the progression from old to new, Jeff Elmassian, creative director at Endless Noise, Los Angeles, recorded new intros to "Rebel, Rebel." "Jeff pulled apart ‘Rebel, Rebel,’ " Cook says. "He started from a basic piano riff, as if Bowie was just mulling it over in his head. Then it went through into violin, then acoustic guitar as if someone were jamming, and then into the real recorded ‘Rebel, Rebel.’ We were able to take the lyrics from ‘Never Gonna Get Old,’ separate it from the rest of the music, and mix it in where we wanted it."
The music and the visuals for the spot were in production simultaneously, Cook says. "We were kicking around a few different ways of doing it," he recalls, "and as soon as we started getting pictures in, getting edit, and as soon as we heard the riff from ‘Rebel, Rebel,’ we thought, ‘That’s it.’ You’re just not going to go to the toilet if you hear that."
The next Audi spots will feature new models, Cook says, but the creative team—executive creative director David Baldwin, group creative director/copywriter Jonathan Cude and art director Cook—hasn’t made any musical decisions yet. "I’m always up for experimenting with music," Cook says, "and I wouldn’t rule Bowie out. I think this has proven that music can add an extra dimension when you do something unusual with it."
MCI
Telecommunications giant MCI and its agency, Euro RSCG Worldwide, New York, have taken the concept of commercial as music video even further, featuring James Taylor and Michael McDonald on screen and in concert as part of their "The Neighborhood, Built by MCI" campaign.
Euro RSCG partner/co-creative director Israel Garber and co-creative director Peter Coutroulis, who worked on MCI, explain how the spots evolved into their final forms. "We were using shots of neighborhoods and we were just using some general background music," says Garber. "It occurred to us if we used music that was more relatable to people who we were targeting—who happened to be mostly women—they would maybe respond more to the advertising."
So the creatives tried laying the song "Ain’t No Mountain High Enough" from McDonald’s new Motown album into one of the ads. "It has a lyric—’If you need me, call me/No matter where you are’—that we incorporated into the spot," Garber relates. "It made it more enjoyable and alive. There was something very friendly and neighborhood-y about it." The spot, which was directed by John Chimples of Image Maintenance, New York, became known as "Mountain."
The classic tune by Ashford and Simpson had been recorded by a number of Motown artists over the years, including Diana Ross, who had a number one hit with it in ’70. "We showed that to MCI," Garber continues, "and Patty Proferes, senior VP of advertising, said, ‘Let’s put Michael McDonald in the commercial.’ We tried it, and it worked even better than before. The commercial became an event. It became like a free concert or music video. It’s kind of like he’s in the neighborhood. It resonated, and the phone calls started coming in." McDonald ended up appearing in three of the campaign’s commercials in total.
For two other spots in the package, the creatives went with James Taylor. In one of them, Taylor sings "How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)" from his current greatest hits release, The Best of James Taylor. The song had been a hit for Marvin Gaye in ’65 and Taylor in ’75. "The idea was to identify musicians who have a neighborhood feel, who maybe the audience would feel are the kind of people they would want to hang out with," Garber says. "We look for lyrics that relate to staying in touch—not literally calling, but about staying together and how bad it is when you’re far away—lyrics that stressed relationships and help, that resonate emotionally. We’re going after a classic crowd, so you want songs that have been around for a long time."
The fact that the spots are mostly :60s gives the music a chance to play and still allows the spots to convey the MCI message. "We were careful about not letting it become a music video," notes Garber. "We edited for weeks, trying to find that balance and get it right."
A sixth spot in the campaign uses the track "What a Wonderful World" from A Wonderful World—Tony Bennett and kd lang’s recent album saluting Louis Armstrong—but doesn’t show a performance. Garber stresses that the campaign has been a "truly collaborative work" between the agency and MCI, and he hopes it will continue in the same vein. "It was extremely successful, and we’d be crazy not to continue to explore its possibilities."
Viagra
The creatives at Taxi Advertising and Design, Toronto, had pretty much settled on the direction they wanted to take with "Champions," their second spot for the erectile dysfunction drug Viagra. It would be a bunch of ordinary guys in an ordinary neighborhood whooping it up in slow motion and celebrating their new found virility.
"The creative team was trying to find an anthem that really worked with the concept of these guys coming out and feeling reinvigorated," says Zak Mroueh, executive creative director at Taxi. "It seemed like a natural tie-in for ‘We Are the Champions.’ "
The Canadian version of "Champions" opens with the beginning of the hit by Queen and builds to the song’s title line. Martin Granger of Avion Films, Toronto, directed the ad; he is repped stateside via bicoastal Moxie Pictures. (He also helmed "Good Morning," the first ad in the package, which used the song of the same title from the classic film Singin’ in the Rain. "Good Morning," which didn’t run in the U.S., was very popular in Canada, with one radio station declaring it the most popular commercial on television there.)
"With spot number two, it was important to continue the same theme of using music to create that feeling of empathy with the viewer," explains Mroueh. "There’s not a lot we can say about what the product does. There are a lot of restrictions. We just thought we’d use music. And ‘We Are the Champions’ just naturally fit with that."
Further, as a song that was released by Queen in ’77, "We Are the Champions" targeted the right demographic for Viagra. "The guys we’re talking to would know the song," Mroueh points out. "It would be part of their generation."
A third Viagra spot also relies heavily on a classic song. "Shower," directed by Kevin Donovan out of Mad Films, Toronto (he’s repped stateside via bicoastal RAW/Progressive), uses the Paul Anka/Frank Sinatra hit "I Did It My Way." "It’s guys from all around the world—from Africa, Paris, Japan, Italy—all these different men in their showers, and they’re just singing in their own language," Mroueh says. "It just fits naturally with the concept."
Mroueh is a big believer in using powerful music in commercials. "It’s like a music video, where you associate the visual with the song," he says. "When you use music properly, it can play a huge role in supporting the idea of the commercial and the brand."
Victoria’s Secret
Ed Razek—chief creative officer for Victoria’s Secret’s in-house advertising division, located in Columbus, Ohio, which created the spot "Angels with Dylan,"—says Dylan’s "Love Sick," from his Grammy-winning ’97 album Time Out of Mind, was the song they were looking for. "We started out trying to find a song that would work with the concept of the commercial," he says. "We were looking for a piece of music to go against the visual. The only one that worked was the Dylan song, the sound of it in Dylan’s voice."
In the spot, directed by Dominique Issermann of Link Entertainment, New York, Dylan appears in close-ups intercut with shots of model Adriana Lima scantily clad in lingerie from the Victoria’s Secret Angels collection. What made the ad stand out was that it was reportedly only the second time a Dylan song had been licensed to a commercial, and it was the first time the somewhat reclusive artist had appeared in a spot. "We served it up to him and he said yes," relates Razek. "Then we came back and asked him if he’d be in the commercial and he agreed." Interestingly, some 40 years ago, Dylan said the only type of business to which he would "sell out" would be "ladies’ garments."
Razek doesn’t consider "Love Sick" to be a high-profile number. "It’s one of Dylan’s lesser known works," he says. "There is some significant upside in terms of instant voice recognition, but I didn’t find any significant downside to using it. I thought the commercial worked out really well, and we were very pleased with it."
What Razek didn’t anticipate was the attention the spot received around the world—in print, on television and via the Internet—but he’s not complaining.
