What lessons have you learned from 2021 that you will apply to 2022 and/or what processes and practices necessitated by the pandemic will continue even when the pandemic is (hopefully) over? (Remote work, use of Zoom enabling more people to be involved in the creative approval process, etc.)
Be ready for anything! Over the last years we have witnessed projects changing course at a very rapid rate. Because of some of the unknowns with remote shooting, Covid cancellations, or availability of people, we have learned to quickly pivot and be prepared for the unknown. We’ve also learned that the burnout factor is real. The remote work can be much easier at times in terms of flexibility, but at other times there seems to be more requests that come after hours, weekends or during holidays. The challenge for 2022 will be striking a balance so we can continue to work in hybrid form AND be efficient in the way we approach it.
How do new technologies, markets and platforms figure in your creative/business plans in 2022? For example, with NFTs gaining momentum, do you foresee related sound and music work resulting? Same for VR/AR? Will increased content spurred on by the emergence of additional streaming platforms open up music and sound opportunities for you? Any growth prospects in the advertising and/or entertainment industry?
We saw a very large change in the way we work in the live event space these last two years. When brands had to stop in-person showcases and reveals, the industry quickly changed into virtual online live shows. Luckily for us, we were able to adapt quickly to this new format and continue to deliver projects at the highest quality. Now we are seeing the reemergence of live events, AR, Experiential as people are becoming more comfortable venturing out to events again. With the continued uncertainty of the pandemic, companies have to be ready to change to any format very quickly (sometimes in less than a week we have found) to deliver content based on unknown circumstances. Since these methods have been proven the last 2 years, we believe brands will be more comfortable moving forward knowing they have the ability to maneuver accordingly.
How has your role–or that of your business or company–evolved in recent years? What do you like most about that evolution? What do you like least?
We have become a much more trusted source in our field. Over the last 2 years we have been able to connect in a deeper way with our clients mainly because of video chats (rather than the telephone conference calls of the past). This has opened up the opportunity to have deeper conversations that are more personal and create a better sense of trust. With that trust comes more repeat business. There is something to be said for connecting face to face with people. Not only that, but our entire teams now get to connect with the people they are working with this way, unlike what would happen a couple of years ago when only certain team members were exposed to face to face meetings. This has become a great tool for us to create solid relationships. We do miss the meetings in person and hope that these will also come back sooner than later.
What was the biggest creative challenge posed to you by a recent project? Tell us about that project, why the challenge was particularly noteworthy or gratifying to overcome, or what valuable lesson you learned from it.
We recently had a very large live brand reveal taking place at the 2022 CES show in Las Vegas. 10 days before the show was going live (and in the midst of the holidays – Christmas and New Years), the show went virtual. This meant that they would have to shoot the entire presentation on a stage and we would not be able to create a large portion of the audio and mix the 1hour long show until just 2-3 days before it went live online. This was one of the most difficult challenges for our team we have ever had given the amount of people we had available and for the fact it was happening during the holidays. All we can say is, we are grateful to have a team that could pull this off in the short timeframe, however, we know for future that we have to prepare for these situations even more so. This one would have come in the form of more available bodies at the ready to enlist at a moments notice.
What recent work are you most proud of and why? Or what recent work (advertising or entertainment)–your own or that of others–has struck a responsive chord with you?
We are very excited for a new campaign that will be hitting the airwaves in the coming weeks for Coca-Cola. It’s a massive global campaign and proof that working around the world with our new hybrid form really does work. Between the clients in Atlanta, agency in London, director in Moscow, animators in Warsaw, composing teams in Rome/Detroit/New York/LA, and final recordings in Budapest we pulled it all off from our home studios. Not only were we having to juggle many time zones, our production approach had to work seamlessly between the composition, recording and mix process. In the end, it was extremely satisfying to see it all come together.
A growing number of superstar artists and songwriters have been selling their music rights/catalogs in megabuck deals. What will be the ripple effect of this on music creatively and from a business standpoint relative to the advertising, film, TV and streaming platform markets?
I think we will see the purchasers of these catalogs making a big push to expose these artists for than ever now. With the amount of money paid for some of these catalogs, they will want to recoup those costs as quickly as possible so that they can begin to see profits. We are actively working in the licensing world as a consultant for our clients, so it only gives us more opportunities to push some artists that may have been unaffordable (or even untouchable) in the past. However, for us, we love when we can do a publishing only deal and have the opportunity to create a very unique rearrangement of a popular song. It’s creatively satisfying.
