A touching original song about acceptance and understanding, written and performed by singer/songwriter Eli Lieb for ad agency Leo Burnett and Allstate Insurance’s LGBT outreach campaign, took home Best In Show honors at tonight’s 2015 AMP Awards for Music and Sound.
The song provides the soundtrack for an animated short titled “Safe in My Hands,” which depicts a young man afflicted with an oversized hand that has him ostracized by others, until he meets a similar young man who’s his perfect match.
“Safe in My Hands” also shared in the Best Original Song category, and was one of two AMP Awards won by work entered by agency Leo Burnett. The other winner came in the category of Best Use of a Licensed Song, which went to a Samsung “Swarovski” film that featured the song “Hey Mami” by Sylvan Esso.
Portland, Oregon-based Walker was the only music house to win two AMP Awards this year, taking honors for Outstanding Adaption and Best Use of Music for a Film or Game Trailer for its work adapting David Bowie’s “Let’s Dance” for LAIKA and the film “The Boxtrolls.”
The 2015 AMP Awards, sponsored by the Association of Music Producers, took place at a sold-out City Winery in New York before an audience of ad agency creatives, music producers and composers, record label and music publishing executives, and marketers from Chevrolet and Pepsi, AMP’s 2015 Hall of Fame inductees.
Representing these iconic brands, which were recognized for outstanding achievement in the use of music to define the brand, were Steve Haener, director, Media, Experiential Marketing & Brand Partnerships, who accepted for Chevrolet, and Frank Cooper III, CMO, Global Consumer Engagement, PepsiCo, who accepted on behalf of Pepsi. Presenting the Hall of Fame trophies was Gayle Troberman, CMO of iHeartMedia, a three-time sponsor of the AMP Awards.
Also presenting awards or speaking at the event were Tor Myhren, President and Worldwide Chief Creative Officer of Grey, who presented the Best In Show Award, and Sarah Barclay, Executive Creative Director of J. Walter Thompson in New York. The artist performances that evening were introduced by Cynthia Sexton, Executive VP of Partnership Content for Universal Music Group.
There were two winners in several key categories for this year’s Awards, with shared honors in the categories for Best Original Song, Best Original Score, Best Sound Design and Outstanding Mix.
In addition to Walker, other winning music and sound companies includes Yessian Music, butter music + sound, duotone audio group, Heard City, Human, Found Objects, COPILOT Strategic Music + Sound, Color and PLUSHnyc.
The full list of AMP Award winners includes:
Best Original Song (2 winners)
“Safe In My Hands”
Allstate
Agency: Leo Burnett USA
“Showtime”
Opel Corsa
Yessian Music
Best Original Score (2 winners)
“Boy Raised By Goats”
Pepto Bismol
butter music + sound
“Celebrate As One”
Budweiser
duotone audio group
Outstanding Adaptation
“Let’s Dance”
LAIKA “The Boxtrolls”
David Bowie (Arr: McKenzie Stubbert)
Walker
Best Use of a Licensed Song
“Swarovski”
Samsung Gear/Galaxy
Song: “Hey Mami” by Sylvan Esso
Leo Burnett USA
Best Sound Design (2 winners)
“Boxhead”
Gillette
Heard City
“Sing Network”
AT&T / 4G LTE
Human
Most Effective Use of Music in a Campaign
“IBM Think Forum”
IBM
Found Objects
Best Use of Music for a Film or Game Trailer
“Let’s Dance”
LAIKA The Boxtrolls
David Bowie (Arr: McKenzie Stubbert)
Walker
Most Effective Use of Music in a Non-Broadcast Medium
“Samba Of The World”
Visa
COPILOT Strategic Music+Sound
Outstanding Mix (2 winners)
“Van dam Boats”
Craftsman
Color
“Drop Science”
General Electric: GE’s Drop Science
PLUSHnyc
Most Effective Sonic Branding
“Stoli Digital Campaign”
Stolichnaya
Antfood
Most Impactful Radio Commercial
“Autocorrect”
Motel 6
The Richards Group
Best In Show
“Safe In My Hands”
Allstate
Song: “Safe In My Hands” Artist/Composer: Eli Lieb
Agency: Leo Burnett USA
Headlining the talent roster for the event was Island Records singer-songwriter Gin Wigmore. Also performing were the Philly-based duo Marian Hill, who are signed to Photo Finish/Republic Records, and DJ Prostyle, who appeared courtesy of iHeartMedia. On hand for the gala and taking part in the presentation of winners was AMP Awards 2015 Advisory Board chair Paul Greco, director of music & radio at J. Walter Thompson in New York. The event was hosted by Lyle Greenfield, founder of Bang Music, former AMP Board President. Kicking off the event was a opening title video created and produced by AMP Awards sponsor Quietman.
