Known to our trade as a veteran of the commercialmaking industry, production house entrepreneur/executive producer Tom Mooney is also a Vietnam War veteran. And when his son, who’s a Marine, recently came home safe from a tour of duty overseas, the elder Mooney felt the need and burning desire to make an album, “#10 G.I.,” carrying a message to break the seemingly endless cycle of war so that all our servicemen and women can come home.
The first single–“Forget The Hate,” for which Mooney sings and plays guitar–and corresponding music video from that album have just been released, with all sales proceeds going to charities that support our troops and war veterans.
The song was 40 years in the making as Mooney had been noodling with the lyrics over the decades dating back to his time in the military. He finally brought it to full fruition recently given that today’s times call for its message.
The black-and-white video, directed by Alex Engel, has Mooney performing against a backdrop of historic images from war and politics. His raspy vocal rendition is a call for peace, showcasing those in the military service who sacrifice of themselves on assorted fronts, and in some cases sadly make the ultimate sacrifice. The album and video are designed to put the spotlight on our soldiers instead of the election year norm when politicians are front and center stage.
Mooney and Engel conceived of the video, which can be seen below and is posted on YouTube. More info can be accessed on Mooney’s Forget The Hate Facebook page. and here.
The performing ensemble on the album consists of vocalist/guitarist Mooney, Jay Folk on lead guitar, Phil Calico on bass guitar and Paul Ducker on saxophone. Calico and Mooney are album producers.
Dan Klein executive produced the video, which was shot on the Curious Pictures stage in NYC. The stage, talent, time and services that brought the music and video to fruition were all donated.
Mooney, perhaps best known in the ad biz as founder of the venerable production house Headquarters, now maintains ADDigital Productions. Klein is exec producer at ADDigital and Engel is on the company’s directorial roster.
Monday Morning Quarterbacking: Agency Creatives Assess Super Bowl Commercials
Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans was a blowout win for the Philadelphia Eagles over the Kansas City Chiefs. So much for relying on a close game with the outcome hanging in the balance to help hold viewer interest through all four quarters. But we still have the commercials--and advertisers who paid a premium, some $8 million on average for a :30 time slot on Fox to reach a mega audience. Yet while the eyeballs were there, did the commercials as a whole do enough to merit and hold consumer attention while building brand and business? To put it all into context, SHOOT enlisted a cross-section of creative directors and savvy content makers on the agency side, steering clear of those who had a special interest or a particular axe to grind in assessing ad fare on the Big Game. SHOOT sounded out creative artisans whose agencies did not have any commercials on this year’s Super Bowl so as to get unvarnished, apolitical takes on the advertising. Here’s a sampling of the feedback we received: Michael Boychuk Michael Boychuk, founder, DNA&STONE, identified several favorite spots. “I liked the visual trippiness of Coffee mate and Tubi. They cashed in the check that the Super Bowl gives you to do something out of the ordinary and ran with it. In a room full of half-drunk fans watching a game with zero drama, heads were turned by the cowboy hat-shaped head and a bizarre dancing tongue. “On the other hand, I loved the authenticity and the powerful insight in the Dove “Hard Knocks” spot. My gut was that this was a year for a serious message to hit home, and for me, the Dove spot got the closest.” As for work that came up short, Boychuk said, “WeatherTech, Cirkul, and TurboTax all missed the mark. WeatherTech and Cirkul were... Read More