JWT New York had an ambitious goal for its Brand USA campaign–to create an invitation for people worldwide, asking them to come to the U.S. and discover a country that they perhaps thought they knew but which still has many eye-opening, rich, fulfilling surprises in store spanning diversity, cultures, people, communities and attractions. Plus the invite had to be less about America tooting its own horn and more about welcoming travelers in a warm, humble manner.
From the outset, JWT realized music was integral to the message. “Because music is so universal, it was obvious to us that we should extend that invitation through a great song,” recalled Paul Greco, director of music at JWT New York.
However, not so obvious was the path to take to find that music. The initial approach was to try to find and then license an iconic song which conveyed the beauty of the country and the American spirit sans any feeling of self promotion or boastful chest beating.
“The biggest challenge,” reflected Greco, “was the song search process. We considered literally hundreds of songs that were rejected for one reason or another. Ultimately it had to be the right song, the right lyrics, the right message, and the right artist.”
Finding the right stuff, though, required that JWT take a 180-degree detour from its plan. “The challenge was met by using an originally composed song that said exactly what we wanted to say, by an artist who had a family legacy with American music,” said Greco.
That artist was Grammy Award-winning singer/songwriter Rosanne Cash–daughter of American music legend Johnny Cash–who teamed with her husband, producer/arranger John Leventhal of music/sound house NY Noise, to write an original song, “Land of Dreams,” for Brand USA’s “Discover America” campaign.
The song became the driving force for the campaign as well as the 60-second spot, also titled “Land of Dreams,” which now earns the number one slot on SHOOT’s quarterly Top Ten Tracks Chart. There’s also a longer-form video of the same title which has generated a major audience just as the song itself has.
Inviting people everywhere to “come and find your land of dreams,” the lyrics and music are simple, elegant and run deep, accompanied by images in the spot–directed by Dave Myers of @radical.media and shot by DP Danny Hiele–that are a departure from the U.S. tourism norm, showing beautiful imagery of rich experiences, cultural diversity and scenes from destinations around the country not often depicted in postcards.
The centerpiece TV commercial also features Rosanne Cash playing “Land of Dreams” under New York’s Brooklyn Bridge, accompanied by musicians from home and abroad.
NY Noise Hearkening back to his days at Y&R NY as executive music producer, Greco–in explaining why he gravitated towards NY Noise for the Brand USA campaign–noted that he has worked with the music house for many years.
“They won a campaign for me at Y&R for KFC with a great song,” he recollected. “They do a lot of records and produce a number of artists like Michelle Branch, The Wreckers, Joan Osborne, Shawn Colvin, and a lot of others. That’s where I met John Leventhal. John is a Grammy Award-winning producer and songwriter, and an amazing guitar player. John works on many of his record projects with [producer/arranger] Rick DePofi and [executive producer] Craig Bishop at NY Noise. John also happens to be married to Rosanne Cash. When we decided that there really wasn’t a song that existed that was going to do and say everything we wanted, I suggested we have one written by an artist who fits the personality of the brand–John and Rosanne were perfect for this client and this work. When they presented the song with Rosanne singing, it was magic. We knew we had something right away.”
(Relative to the record projects alluded to by Greco, a prime example would be Cash’s critically acclaimed album “The List,” which DePofi and Leventhal co-produced.)
NY Noise was brought into the Brand USA creative process pretty much on the ground floor–in large part because Greco was involved at the earliest stages of creative development. “Music was so integral to the campaign that our creative teams wanted me there from the start,” noted Greco whose JWT creative colleagues on the Brand USA campaign included executive creative directors Jim Hord and Bill Oberlander, creative director (art) John Doyle, creative director (copy) David O’Hare, director of content Sergio Lopez, director of brand production Matt Anderson, and sr. producer Kimberly Edwards.
The NY Noise creative ensemble included executive producer Bishop, and producers/arrangers DePofi and Leventhal. Recording artists were Cash with David Hidalgo, Steve Berlin, Bebel Gilberto and the Treme Brass Band.
Greco has spent the past year as director of music at JWT after nearly 14 years at Y&R as executive music producer. Greco leads JWT’s music department and is involved in all of the high-level discussions regarding music for the agency’s major campaigns. For Brand USA, he was responsible for selecting music options for the campaign, producing the song with Cash, Leventhal and NY Noise, as well as talent and rights negotiations.
Regarding the selection of audio post mixer Tom Jucarone of Sound Lounge for the Brand USA fare, Greco assessed, “Tom is one of the best mixers in the business. He is great with music and has mixed a number of award-winning spots in the past.”
