There’s something magical about a mesh between picture and sound that makes for a Gestalt–the whole being greater than the sum of its parts. That’s the case with Ogilvy & Mather New York’s first ever ad campaign video for Tiffany & Co. Underscoring the power of visuals and a musical score that complement one another is the fact that “Holiday” earned the #4 slot in this week’s quarterly SHOOT Visual Effects & Animation Top Ten Chart, as well as the #1 ranking in our quarterly Top Ten Tracks Chart.
An animated piece from the Psyop studio, Tiffany & Co.’s “Holiday” is elegant and emotional, depicting New York as a winter wonderland with scenes such as a man proposing to a woman at the world famous ice skating rink at Rockefeller Center, where the world’s most famous Christmas tree this side of The White House resides. Needless to say, the engagement ring is from Tiffany, a NYC storefront which too is iconic and depicted briefly in “Holiday.”
Instead of sheets of snow, the city is filled with white blankets of Tiffany jewels and diamonds. The long-form video takes us on a journey down Broadway, through the park throughout numerous holiday-themed buildings, each with its own love story to tell.
Driving the diamond-graced video, replete with a gem of a snowfall, is a stirring rendition of “Out of the Blue” by the band Della Swiss with Chauncey Jacks as lead singer. The track gives an ethereal quality to the animation with music/sound shop Beacon Street Studios and its label Fasho Records furnishing the score. The music provides a warmth to the winter chill depicted, with key contributions from Beacon Street composers Rick Boston, Andrew Feltenstein and John Nau, engineer Doug Trantow and executive producer Adrea Lavezzoli.
Felteinstein related, “We were brought in late in the game and the agency was already having a hard time finding the perfect song.” He noted that when the Beacon Street ensemble got involved, the picture was already done and “coincidentally we were just finishing the EP [an extended play] for Della Swiss, a new artist signed to Fasho Records under the Beacon Street umbrella. I took the session of our song and carved it to picture with Rick [Boston]. Doug [Trantow] mixed the whole album.”
The Ogilvy NY contingent–including executive producer of music Karl Westman and music producer Michael Freeman–loved the result, continued Feltenstein who noted there’s even the possibility down the road of Swiss performing live in Tiffany & Co.’s flagship store in NYC.
Marie Hyon of Psyop directed. In addition to Westman and Freeman, Ogilvy & Mather NY’s creative ensemble included chief creative officer Chris Garbutt, group creative director Debra Fried, creative director Jeff Leaf and executive producer Maureen Phillips.
