Coppertone - I Love - (2011) :15 (US)

When Face The Music was recently tapped by Euro RSCG Tonic to compose and arrange all the music for a new Coppertone campaign, they faced quite a challenge.

The job of creating the music for the initial two spots - I Love and Sport - came to Face The Music through Euro's CD John Rea, an accomplished musician with a rich history of both writing and playing his own work. "It's always an exciting experience working with someone like John," says Face The Music's EP and co-owner Joe Sicurella. "We were tuned into his impressive background in music and that kind of unique awareness with which he approaches projects. This made the collaboration a joy for us and most importantly, the client."

"We've teamed up with Face The Music numerous times over the years, spanning back to our days working on Coca-Cola," says John Rea. "Our work together always has an organic quality to it, founded on a mutual respect for music."

"John explained that they wanted to do something unexpected musically," notes Sicurella. "He had come back from the shoot in Costa Rica, and felt that they'd captured something different visually, and of course, then didn't want the audio portion of the job to fall short in terms of continuing that new approach. So he wanted a music track that would complement the whole fun and summer beach theme, but that would also keep it very artist-driven, with the integrity of that sort of approach."

Face The Music's team of experienced record composers began work immediately, playing around with ideas and themes until they landed on several key musical ideas that captured the themes of summertime, beach fun and kids enjoying themselves, "as well as some elements that might have more of an indie artist flavor and vibe," he reports. "We wanted listeners to have that sense that the music originated from our own authentic indie sound and artists, as opposed to a typical commercial soundtrack."

Although the team only had a few days to pull the music together, "there wasn't too much back and forth," Sicurella notes. "We explored a few different directions and then scored it to highlight the key visuals they wanted to capture and emphasize. And John was very committed to getting a score that would support all the bright colors and excitement. So we tried to come up with music that melodically matched it all, both the action moments and the product moments, and then built and built the tracks up until we got exactly what we and the clients were looking for."

Using a similar music track by Face The Music, Euro and Coppertone extended the musical ideas onto a Facebook page that acted as a public service forum to young surfers and swimmers in the ocean. All the music was recorded between Face The Music's facilities in New York and Culver City, CA.

"It was a fun challenge and great working with John and everyone else involved," sums up Sicurella. "And the spots are doing great."

About Face The Music
Face The Music is an acclaimed music branding and production firm with a roster of national and international clients.

As a full spectrum resource of music and sound, FTM partners with agencies and their clients to produce audio that will grow their brands, help develop music strategies for the long-term and create breakthrough sound concepts, imagery and communications.
 

Client: Coppertone
Spot Title(s): I Love, Sport
Air Date: June 2011

Agency: Euro RSCG Tonic
ECD(s): Phil Silvestri, Rich Roth
CD: John Rea
Copywriter: Dave Hubbert
Director Of Integrated Production: Joe Guyt
Senior Producer: Tamal Mannan
Producer: Chris Muldoon

Prod Co: Lankford Films
Director: Gary Lankford
DP: Kevin McKnight
EP: Lainie Harris
Producer: Nancy Marks

Editorial Co: Berwyn Editorial
Editor: Scott Gibney
EP: Patricia Higgins
Senior Producer: Jen Sienkwicz
Designer/Animator(s): Jacques Levet, Jaime Lamond
Mixer: Eric Thompson

Telecine Co: Nice Shoes
Colorist: Lez Rudge

Music Co: Face The Music

Shoot Location: Costa Rica