Feedback from Music, Sound & Audio Post Companies
By (Sponsored Content)
The music, sound and audio post business is constantly evolving. As part of a marketing package, SHOOT invited music & sound as well as audio post houses to provide feedback, responding to questions about the industry and the nature of their projects.
Among the observations gleaned are that jingles are making a comeback, the “era of cute” is coming to an end, and out-of-the-box creativity has become all the more essential. Participating shops also shared what they regard as their most significant projects creatively thus far in 2013.
The following pages provide an insightful look at each participating company, their work and how they are meeting creative and business challenges.
Ian Jeffreys 1) What project has been most significant for your company this year in terms of creative challenges you were able to meet and/or how did it help to define or diversify the nature of your business? 2013 has been an extremely busy year for us. We’ve been fortunate to work on a lot of great projects. Without a doubt, Football On Your Phone for DirecTV, which featured Peyton & Eli Manning, made the biggest splash. It was also one of the bigger production challenges we’ve ever encountered. 2) Are there any creative and/or business trends or developments you would point to so far in 2013 as being most significant in the music and sound arena that carry implications for the rest of 2013 and beyond? And, what are your company plans for the rest of 2013 and beyond? This year we’ve noticed two major trends in music. First, it seems that what I like to call the “era of cute” is finally coming to an end. People are shying away from the ukulele and glockenspiel thing that started with the first iPhone commercial. That sound really saturated the airwaves for a while. We haven’t seen a new “sound” emerge and dominate the way that did. Although I suspect that we’ll be seeing more subtle and understated music become prevalent. The second trend- shockingly- is the return of the jingle. Butter has seen more jingle projects this year than we have in a decade. It seems like people are recognizing the strength of that medium—although the new stuff has less of the bravado than the classic ’80s and ’90s jingles had. Whether its “Dumb Ways to Die,” Old Spice’s Bar Soap campaign, or our “Long Day of Childhood” jingle for Ragu via Barton F Graf. The jingle has always been one of the most effective forms of broadcast advertising, but now people are also seeing it as a way to drive great creative ideas. I’m pleased to say that Butter is very well positioned to ride that wave. We’re looking forward to what’s ahead. |
Michael Marinelli 1) What project has been most significant for your company this year in terms of creative challenges you were able to meet and/or how did it help to define or diversify the nature of your business? We were fortunate to work with Droga5 on a telecom launch campaign. The size and scope of the campaign created some challenges for us. One of these was scheduling. With the amount of work needing to be mixed, we had to coordinate several studios running concurrently. The flexibility of the Droga5 production and creative teams in concert with our scheduling department was key in allowing enough time for the process. 2) Are there any creative and/or business trends or developments you would point to so far in 2013 as being most significant in the music and sound arena that carry implications for the rest of 2013 and beyond? And, what are your company plans for the rest of 2013 and beyond? We built Sonic Union with the idea that, after spending weeks conceptualizing, shooting and editing a commercial, the final product will rely significantly on what we can bring to the table in the final few hours before it ships. It can be a pressure packed time, so we’ve given our mixers a head start by setting up our systems to prioritize creativity over file management. Without having to worry about deliverables, because we create everything at once, our guys are free to go the extra mile in session. If, by breaking out a keyboard or a guitar, or getting in the booth with some foley gear to get the mix “just so,” is what it takes, then we’ve done our job. We’re doing what we’ve always wanted to do, and it feels pretty great to make our clients happy. Going forward, if we can continue to connect with people who realize the importance of out-of-the-box creativity in the mix, the future sounds pretty good. |
Google Opens Its Defense In Antitrust Case Alleging Monopoly Over Online Ad Technology
Google opened its defense against allegations that it holds an illegal monopoly on online advertising technology Friday with witness testimony saying the industry is vastly more complex and competitive than portrayed by the federal government.
"The industry has been exceptionally fluid over the last 18 years," said Scott Sheffer, a vice president for global partnerships at Google, the company's first witness at its antitrust trial in federal court in Alexandria.
The Justice Department and a coalition of states contend that Google built and maintained an illegal monopoly over the technology that facilitates the buying and selling of online ads seen by consumers.
Google counters that the government's case improperly focuses on a narrow type of online ads — essentially the rectangular ones that appear on the top and on the right-hand side of a webpage. In its opening statement, Google's lawyers said the Supreme Court has warned judges against taking action when dealing with rapidly emerging technology like what Sheffer described because of the risk of error or unintended consequences.
Google says defining the market so narrowly ignores the competition it faces from social media companies, Amazon, streaming TV providers and others who offer advertisers the means to reach online consumers.
Justice Department lawyers called witnesses to testify for two weeks before resting their case Friday afternoon, detailing the ways that automated ad exchanges conduct auctions in a matter of milliseconds to determine which ads are placed in front of which consumers and how much they cost.
The department contends the auctions are finessed in subtle ways that benefit Google to the exclusion of would-be competitors and in ways that prevent... Read More