Special Sauce
By Tom Soter
September 26, 2003
" Traditional"- directed by Bruce Nadel of Nadel
Cohn & Company, New York,
out of Young & Rubicam (Y&R), New York - is anything but. The impressionistic
spot for Prego spaghetti sauce (a product of the Campbell's Soup Company) shows
tight close-ups of tomatoes...
... "The concept was to have lush beautiful
imagery and then use the music to reinforce the high-quality look and
feel of the product," reports
Paul Greco, associate partner/music producer at Y&R, who has worked on Prego
for the past three years...
The music was seen as crucial from the get-go. "We knew we wanted classical
music - something sophisticated that would touch the heartstrings," says
Greco, who adds that the agency never considered licensing music. "We wanted
something that would become identifiable as Prego's."...
... The melody has proven wildly popular, and generated hundreds of
requests from viewers for more information about the music...
Practically, composing original music was also less expensive than paying
a high licensing fee. For the soundtrack, Greco turned to David Horowitz
of David Horowitz
Music Associates (DHMA), New York, who had demonstrated his versatility on a
number of other spots he scored for Greco - especially the Emmy-nominated 1998
Pella Windows commercial "Elopement," which was an exercise in film
noir music styles...
The Music
Horowitz says the process on "Traditional" was unusual. Rather than
viewing a rough cut of the piece, he only saw raw, unedited footage, and was
told to compose a melodic piece that the editor could cut to... "We wanted
the music to dictate the pacing of
the cuts," explains Greco...
|
... Horowitz composed three melodies and within a week he was recording
a violin solo by renowned string player Regis Iandiorio and mocking up an orchestra
on synthesizer. The agency chose one of the melodies - also Horowitz's favorite
- and Greco gave the go-ahead. Horowitz then recorded the piece with a full orchestra,
with Iandiorio again on violin. "A lot depends on the performance," explains
Jan Horowitz, VP/business manager at DHMA. "Regis was brilliant. In a world
of downloadable music full of synthesizers, this sounded real and very much created
an emotional moment. People respond to that."
In fact, at the conclusion of the recording session, the veteran orchestra members
were apparently so moved by the music that they all broke into spontaneous applause.
David Horowitz says the six-week process worked well because the agency trusted
him and gave him the freedom to compose without interference. "We kept an
open mind about it," Greco relates. "We didn't want to pigeonhole David.
We hired a composer and let him compose."
The client is also very pleased. "We wanted something that would bring to
mind a family feeling," says Chris Fowley, marketing manager at Prego. "In
terms of breaking through the noise of TV ads in general, it works wonderfully.
It's a very simple message, beautiful in it's simplicity. The hope is you hear
that music and associate it with Prego."
" I think the music track does what we wanted," Greco adds. "It
makes
you feel something, and it definitely brings out the emotions." |
