Synch Focus: Avila’s Cover of Elvis Presley’s “All Shook Up” for Trojan
Who’s In Focus: http://www.imagem-music.com
We Are: Imagem Music, Music Publisher, New York, NY (with offices worldwide)
The Project: “All Shook Up,” three :30 commercials for Trojan Lubricants; Agency: Joey; Music Supervisor: Marc Morris for Yessian Music
Check It Out:
Creative Brief: I received a brief from Marc Morris (of Yessian Music) who was acting as music supervisor for NY-based agency Joey.
Marc described their need as a cover of a song with lyrics that were crucial to the story. They wanted female vocals, an interesting musical perspective and a general feeling of ‘sensual/sexy.’
Along with this came a storyboard which featured still frames of couples in PG-13 sensual poses and the product – Trojan Sexual Lubricants.
Inspiration: At Imagem we’re fortune enough to host some incredible evergreen catalogs comprised of a number of incredible songs. So many of these amazing tunes are instantly recognizable, lyrically relevant across all eras, and lend huge authenticity to a brand. Because of this most are perfectly poised to be refreshed and reinterpreted. It makes them at once a clear choice.
For this brief, I knew they wanted a hit and I knew the lyrics needed to encompass a smoky, smoldering, sexy scene.
We have been working with a company called Media Horse, captained by Joe Berman, who pair indie artists to classic songs and create fresh perspectives on evergreen songs. They used an artist named Avila to create a great version of “My Favorite Things” (which was featured in a Victoria’s Secret ad) and had 1 month prior sent me her take on “All Shook Up.”
I immediately cued it up in iTunes and gave it another listen.
Magic Track: When I first heard Avila’s “All Shook Up,” I thought it was interesting but never thought it would have practical application in advertising (the adjectives ‘upbeat’, ‘positive’, and ‘building’ are used in practically every ad brief – which this track is not).
Imagem realized that Michigan-based duo Avila could solve Trojan’s musical puzzle.
I try not to play the game of “I think this track is the winner” until I’m negotiating a license – just because so much can happen before everyone is on board. Don’t get me wrong, I certainly thought the Avila cover of “All Shook Up” was a contender and when I heard back from Marc Morris, the music supervisor for Joey, he told me everyone loved it…so much so that they ended up licensing it almost immediately (within a day or 2 of hearing!) and wanting to promote it on the Trojan website.
Synchro Nicety: The word ‘smoky’ immediately comes to mind. This song’s pairing with the visual is perfect and it’s hard to imagine any other way. Again, I don’t like to play the guessing game of why people do or don’t like something or think it fits. Sometimes it’s obvious, but other times it seems completely out of the blue. In most cases, the end result is something everyone is truly pleased about – this was no different.
The Payoff: The coolest metric for us, and for Avila, was that the song entered the iTunes Top 200 Singer/Songwriter chart. For a commercial to boost a song into that chart at number 157 was impressive…so you can imagine our surprise when it climbed to number 10! Joe Berman said the song has been downloaded some 10,000 times since it started airing!
— Andy Lykens, Manager, Creative Services, Imagem Music, U.S. / Imagem Creative Services U.S.
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