“What the World Needs Now” is a powerful music video performed by Grammy-nominated Tank and The Bangas (along with the band’s friends and family) created by creative agency Elephant for Yahoo. The song, a reimagining of “What the World Needs Now,” was shot and recorded in Tank’s hometown of New Orleans back in January, before COVID-19 took its grip on the US and before the current national protests over George Floyd’s death and systemic racism in America. While it’s not meant to address these issues directly, it serves as a purely positive message during this moment in history.
The backstory: Elephant, an IPG-owned shop, was awarded creative AOR for Yahoo last year and charged with repositioning the brand. This led to the development of a new creative platform – and subsequent global brand campaign – that positioned Yahoo as the amplifier of what people love. The brand wants to help people dig deeper into their passions.
For the campaign, Elephant tapped Tank and The Bangas to record an interpretation of the song “What the World Needs Now” that would become the music track for the TV spots. On the way to the shoot, they decided to stop in Tank’s hometown of New Orleans to record the track and shoot some behind-the-scenes footage. The band invited friends and family to participate, which turned into a magical experience with many New Orleans musicians stopping by to sing along and be part of the moment.
As a brand that has always stood for positivity, and in line with its new brand vision, Yahoo and the Elephant team kept coming back to that magical day in the studio, and ultimately decided to turn the footage into a music video. Elephant edited the music video themselves and worked tirelessly on licensing and approvals. The result is not an ad. It’s not branded Yahoo. There’s no tagline. It’s simply a beautiful piece of content that Tank, Elephant and Yahoo wanted to get out into the world.
“In January, Yahoo gave us the opportunity to call some of our artist friends in New Orleans to help us record ‘What The World Needs now’ and it was one of the most powerful moments I’ve ever experienced in a room full of artists. It was so New Orleans. The voice of the children, the poets, the different tones and textures of all the artists was truly transforming. I believe that everyone can testify how high the emotions ran this particular day. It’s my hope that people will become moved, active, and use love in their weaponry in fighting for what they believe is right,” said Tarriona Tank Ball.
Pablo Marques, executive creative director at Elephant, added, “We knew we were witnessing something special during that weekend in New Orleans. Tank and The Bangas, their family and friends came together in-studio to make music of positivity and love. Their performances were so inspiring and completely in tune with the song’s message. This is bigger than a brand. It’s a sentiment we believe in and we all felt it necessary to put out into the world.”
Josh Rabinowitz served as music consultant on the video.
