Josh Rabinowitz has joined Grey Worldwide, New York, as senior VP/director of music production. Rabinowitz was most recently VP/executive music producer at Young & Rubicam (Y&R), New York, and prior to that, executive producer at bicoastal music house tomandandy.
Rabinowitz will head a five-person music department at Grey. “The main reason [for joining Grey] is Nancy Axthelm,” related Rabinowitz, referring to Grey’s executive VP/director of production. “When I met her, I was trying to find the next phase in my career. Working at Y&R was an excellent experience, but it was time to step into something new. Grey is a huge agency, it’s a very successful agency, — and there are so many opportunities to do so many different kinds of things.”
Axthelm noted that bringing Rabinowitz aboard helps solidify the shop’s commitment to music, explaining that she has “a great architecture for our music department–good, talented and knowledgeable people. I think this–just steps it up a notch, with his addition.”
Grey was recently acquired by the WPP Group, parent company to such agencies as Y&R, Berlin Cameron/Red Cell, New York, and Cole & Weber/Red Cell Seattle, and has of late been gaining notice for its creative offerings. “We’re at the perfect crossroads,” explained Axthelm. “Our creative product is really getting noticed in the business and by the consumer. And I have such an absolute devotion and respect for the musical element, and I think that Josh will help us bring a musical component to all of our ideas–and that means everything; all the new technologies, all the new media. Music is such a key way to communicate with our consumers.
“He just brings the whole package–he brings a sensibility that is from a truly creative point of view,” continued Axthelm, “and I think Tim Mellors [president/chief creative officer of Grey Worldwide North America] feels the same way. So we decided–as Grey is moving on into a whole new fresh future, that Josh is the perfect person to help us do it.”
Rabinowitz will continue to take an active role in producing. “I would love to work on as many jobs as possible, and produce, and work with Tim Mellors as much as possible,” he said. “I’d love to be an asset to him in anyway possible, and to anyone here. I’m not adding something that the music department is lacking, but I think I can infuse and enhance things. I really feel like this music department is solid.”
In addition to working with traditional commercial music shops, while at Y&R, Rabinowitz produced tracks for clients such as Sony and Dr Pepper. For each, he worked on original compositions with artists such as Alana Davis, Los Lonely Boys, LL Cool J, and Thalia. He plans to continue exploring ways in which recording artists can contribute to advertising. “I’m certainly excited about the opportunities advertising is offering for musical people,” he explained. “The more I talk to people in the music industry, the more and more I’m convinced how crucial it is for them to get their songs and artists into ads. For me, it would be exceptional to try to get an artist who’s never done an ad before, and do it with them, in a really meaningful, musical way. Obviously, my other hope, which I’ve said before, is to break a song from an ad, and make it the number one song on the Billboard charts. I think it’s going to happen–it’s certainly happened in the U.K., and other parts of the world.”
“Between the new people and the people we have in place, there’s a very exciting, new dynamic to music [at Grey],” related Axthelm. “I’m very anxious to bring this new dynamic of music from every point of communication with our consumer. … You have to be making an important musical statement now. It’s a component you really must have.”