Marshall Grupp Sound Design and Sound Lounge, both based in New York, have entered into a creative alliance with London music house Boiler Room (formerly I Love Music), which maintains an ensemble of European composers, remixers and recording artists.
Sound designer Marshall Grupp pursued the relationship with Boiler Room after seeing that company’s reel. He described the U.K. shop as being an ideal complement to his company, simpatico in creative tastes and sensibilities.
Via the deal, Boiler Room gains a stateside foothold. Composer and company co-founder Kevin Ferguson has moved from London to New York in order to head Boiler Room’s new U.S. operation. His partner, executive producer Jan van Mesdag, will remain at the company’s London headquarters.
Boiler Room’s stateside shop is on the same premises as Marshall Grupp Sound Design and Sound Lounge. The U.K. house was launched as I Love Music in 1999. It was founded by van Mesdag, a former creative director at McCann-Erickson, London, and Ferguson, a composer and remixer with a background in London’s underground recording industry.
Among Boiler Room’s most notable credits is Volkswagen Beetle’s “Smile,” a 2002 spot for DDB, London. The score to that ad, a song titled “Strange and Beautiful” written and performed by Matt Hales, topped British pop charts when it was subsequently released by Hales under the artist alias of Aqualung.
Other Boiler Room endeavors include commercials for such clients as Coke via McCann-Erickson, London, Renault for Publicis, London, Hyundai out of Leagas Delaney, London, Siemens Mobile via J. Walter Thompson (JWT), Frankfurt, BMW for JWT, Munich, and British Petroleum via Ogilvy & Mather, London.