mcgarrybowen recently produced a spot for Chase titled “Blue Sky,” serving to introduce the bank to California after Chase’s acquisition of WaMu. The goal was to create awareness that Chase now has bank branches in that state. The spot heralds a bright new day featuring the Chase octagon logo glowing in the sky over beautiful California scenes.
To match the spot’s natural energy and to underscore its optimism, we needed the right song–one that could strengthen the emotional connection to the brand by resonating with our audience. Chase understands how vital music is to a campaign, so I knew this was going to be an exceptional project.
When determining the musical approach with Chase and our executive creative directors (Danny Gregory and Haydn Morris), we considered many different songs during storyboard and animatic development, ultimately deciding on John Lennon’s Instant Karma. Its classic refrain of “We All Shine On” as the driving lyric reinforces the spot’s creative concept. Once all parties approved the song, I had the amazing opportunity to produce a new arrangement. I live for these moments.
At this point in the process, the film and music production run in parallel paths–the agency shoots the beautiful spot on location in California (Sierra Nevada Mountains, Half Moon Bay, etc.) as I’m digging into the track here in New York. Soon, we’ll be meeting in the edit room to marry the film with the new version of Lennon’s classic.
On the music side, one of our main priorities was to capture the epic feel of the creative concept–this track had to soar–so the vocalist choice was paramount. As part of my extensive search of artists, I called David Baron, a highly accomplished arranger/producer whom I’ve worked with before and deeply trust. It turned out that he was in the middle of producing Peter Murphy’s (yes, that Peter Murphy…from Bauhaus) new solo record. Wow. What great timing. I don’t know how to describe Peter’s voice except that it seems like it can split the earth in two. Perfect for our spot. For background vocals we decided to reach out to Cindy Mizelle, who fortunately was in town on break from her current tour with Bruce Springsteen.
We produced the entire song (rather than just an edited arrangement), which allowed everyone to dig a lot deeper, leading into more fertile, creative territory. Peter’s full version of Instant Karma was recorded with a live band at Dreamland Studios in Hurley, N.Y. When I heard the final mix at about 4 a.m., I got those spectacular chills, which I still believe is the best way to judge music. I knew we had something unique that would elevate the commercial.
We worked for a few days on various edit approaches, finishing the final :30 version with an intro from Peter and Cindy, leading into the chorus, and arranging the background vocals around the end voiceover placement. It’s musically seamless.
As it turned out, we couldn’t top it. It went final. It even created an amazing buzz online among Peter’s fans, who were thrilled to hear his interpretation. Look for the complete version soon on iTunes. An ideal scenario.
Jerry Krenach is director of music production at New York-based advertising agency mcgarrybowen.
