Tourism Australia today launched “Transformation”, a new advertising campaign being rolled out in 22 countries around the world. Baz Luhrmann, known for his movies Moulin Rouge and William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, was responsible for the television and cinema commercials set in New York, Shanghai and Western Australia.
Original music for the New York commercial, Billabong, was composed by Sydney composer and song writer Elliott Wheeler, from sound and music boutique Nylon Studios.
The music for the New York spot was composed and recorded within a 48 hour timeframe in early September. Film directors Baz Luhrmann and Bruce Hunt called Nylon Studios on a Friday night a month before the launch, asking for a demo to be completed by the following Monday. Elliott composed two pieces on the Saturday before recording them with a string ensemble from Sydney Symphony Orchestra on the Sunday morning.
Once the creative team had chosen one of the tracks further work included the addition of multiple layers of piano tracks to create a a signature sound for the main piano melody, and careful sound engineering and mix by Wayne Connolly. Encouraged by warm response to the soundtrack, Wheeler has written an extended version with lyrics recorded by Abby Dobson from Sydney band Leonardo’s Bride.
“We wanted to use strings, but not on such a scale that we’d be dictating to the audience what they were meant to feel, so in the end we went with a much smaller chamber ensemble. We put a lot of energy into finding a balance between the intimacy expressed in the dialogue, and the grandness seen in the cinematography.”
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This is one of the problems with licensing existing songs for commercials. You have no brand identity. I actually saw these 2 commercials back to back on TV in the same commercial break... my first thought was "man, there must be some pissed off clients right now."
...and since it is related, one of the other problems with this kind of licensing is the way the different commercials can attach a different emotion to the same song and ruin the intended effect from the music. For example, there is another piece of music that is currently being used in 2 different commercials. One commercial is using it as a "cool fashion-y" track, and the other is using the music as a parody and completely making fun of the music and positioning it as "cheezy"... it makes the "cool" one no longer seem "cool"... makes that music seem like a joke, too.
One Minor Difference:
Vonage: Ooh-hoo, ooh-hoo-hoo
Chevy: Woo-hoo,woo-hoo-hoo (Mens voices sound a little "hollow")
Oh, here's another similarity: they both suck! Big time.
for another badland announcement...
The line that United healthcare used in their print ads went like this...
"People don't always use common sense. Fortunately, there's a healthcare company that does."
That print campaign was done by GSD&M. (http://www.gsdm.com/site_content.html)
Shame on you Vonage.
That you caught both of these ads with the same song back to back cracks me up. Yeah, I'd say there were some really pissed off clients and bleeding ulcers appearing at the agencies right at that moment... Oh-la-la!