Making the delivery rounds would hardly seem inspirational for a mailman. Yet it is just that for one who stops at a house in which a young man is playing the cello.
We can better hear the beautiful strains of classical music—Brahms’ First Cello Sonata in E Minor, played by Richard Harper—when the postman opens the mail slot in the front door. Rather than move on to his next delivery, he remains bent over, his ear inches away from the still-open slot.
A super then provides a succinct caption across the top of the screen: "Music. It’s Powerful Stuff."
The spot cuts to a logo for From the Top, a weekly classical music program on National Public Radio (NPR). The logo is accompanied by a descriptive tag—"The Young Musicians’ Network"—and an e-mail address (Fromthetop.org). The NPR series features young instrumentalists and their music.
"Mailman" is one of three :30s in a package created pro bono by a team at Hill, Holliday, Connors, Cosmopulos, Boston, which included creative director/art director Doug Gould and creative director/copywriter Eivind Ueland. In each commercial, a gifted young musician is heard playing classical music on an instrument.
Hill Holliday VP/executive producer Tom Foley directed the spots. The job was run through Boston-based Element Productions, where Eran Lobel and Kayellen Moran served as executive producer and producer, respectively. The DP was Rudi Schwab, who is repped as a director/cameraman via Element.
The other ads in the campaign are "Bus Stop" and "Subway." In the former, a man waits at a bus stop in front of a large brick building—from which Erin Svoboda is heard masterfully playing a clarinet. The bus brakes to pick up its prospective passenger, then takes off. Enthralled by Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto in A Minor, the man hasn’t moved.
In "Subway," young violinist Maya Shankar performs Gluck’s Melodie. Appreciative listeners on the platform drop money into a nearby paper coffee cup. The musician then walks off, leaving behind the cup full of cash. Turns out it wasn’t hers: She was playing for pure enjoyment. Like "Mailman," these spots are tagged with the "Music. It’s Powerful Stuff" slogan.
The campaign was edited by Dick Gordon of Mad River Post, New York. Ed Patrowicz and Chris Ryan of Nice Shoes, New York, served as online editor and colorist, respectively. Audio mixer was Glen Landrum of Lower East Side, New York.
