Allstate’s pro-LGBT commercial “Safe In My Hands”, featuring an original song from singer-songwriter Eli Lieb, was the big winner at the 2015 AMP Awards for Music and Sound — the third annual celebration of music composed and licensed for commercials held Tuesday (May 5) at New York’s City Winery.
The 90-second animated spot, created by ad agency Leo Burnett, took home the trophies for Best In Show and Best Original Song, sharing the latter win with Yessian Music’s “Showtime,” for Opel Corsa. Universal Music was the ceremony’s official label sponsor, and featured performances from Photo Finish/Republic’s Marian Hill as well as Island Records’ Gin Wigmore. A full list of winners is available here.
Also featured were AMP’s 2015 Hall of Fame Award recipients Chevrolet and Pepsi, who joined the ranks of McDonald’s, Coca-Cola, Nike and Budweiser for their historic and culturally impactful use of music in advertising.
Accepting for Chevrolet, Steve Haener, the brand’s senior manager of experiential marketing and brand partnerships, said, “Starting with Dinah Shore in 1952 to today with Kid Rock, music has really helped connect customers for decades. Baseball, apple pie, hot dogs and Chevrolet are the heartbeat of America, and these jingles have become classics in their own right. We don’t just use music to tell our story, music uses us. Chevrolet and its vehicles are used in over 1,000 songs, from [Don McLean’s] ‘American Pie’ to [Florida Georgia Line’s] ‘Cruise’ to [Prince’s] ‘Little Red Corvette’ — as cool as they are, people don’t write songs about iPhones yet.”
Frank Cooper, chief marketing officer — global consumer engagement, said of receiving Pepsi’s award, “This is one of those moments where you should just drop the mic and go stage left.” He then reversed an old adage by stating, “We know that a picture is worth 1,000 words, but we believe that music is worth a thousand pictures…What we want to find out next is, what does an amazing song sound like a Snapchat? If I can find out as we move forward, that’s the exciting opportunity.”
Other big music category winners included butter music + sound (Pepto Bismol’s “Boy Raised By Goats”) and duotone audio group (Budweiser’s “Celebrate As One”) for Best Original Score; Walker (David McKenzie Stubbert’s arrangement of David Bowie’s “Let’s Dance for LAIKA’s “The Boxtrolls”) for Outstanding Adaptation and Best Use of Music for a Film or Game Trailer; Leo Burnett USA (Sylvan Esso’s “Hey Mami” for Samsung Galaxy Gear) for Best Use of a Licensed Song; and Found Objects (IBM’s “Think Forum” for Most Effective Use of Music in a Campaign.
Though the well-attended event was designed to celebrate the use of audio in commercials, Gayle Troberman, chief marketing officer at radio sponsor iHeartMedia, said to the oft-noisy and boisterous audience, “I don’t know you, but I used to heart sound. Let’s try for less sound tonight.”
Other sponsors included Grey, BBDO, Windfall Agency, J. Walter Thompson, SHOOT, APM Music and Extreme Reach / SourceCreative. Paul Greco, director of music and radio at J. Walter Thompson in New York, serves as AMP’s 2015 Advisory Board Chair, while Lyle Greenfield, founder of Bang Music and former AMP Board President, was on hand as host.
The full list of AMP Award winners is below:
Outstanding Adaptation
“Let’s Dance”
LAIKA “The Boxtrolls”
David Bowie (Arr: McKenzie Stubbert)
Walker
Best Use of a Licensed Song
“Swarovski”
Samsung Gear / Galaxy
Song: “Hey Mami” by Sylvan Esso
Leo Burnett USA
Best Sound Design (2 winners)
“Boxhead”
Gillette
Heard City
“Sing Network”
AT&T / 4G LTE
Human
Most Effective Use of Music in a Campaign
“IBM Think Forum”
IBM
Found Objects
Best Use of Music for a Film or Game Trailer
“Let’s Dance”
LAIKA The Boxtrolls
David Bowie (Arr: McKenzie Stubbert)
Walker
Most Effective Use of Music in a Non-Broadcast Medium
“Samba Of The World”
Visa
COPILOT Strategic Music+Sound
Outstanding Mix (2 winners)
“Van dam Boats”
Craftsman
Color
“Drop Science”
General Electric: GE’s Drop Science
PLUSHnyc
Most Effective Sonic Branding
“Stoli Digital Campaign”
Stolichnaya
Antfood
Most Impactful Radio Commercial
“Autocorrect”
Motel 6
The Richards Group
Best In Show
“Safe In My Hands”
Allstate
Song: “Safe In My Hands” Artist/Composer: Eli Lieb
Agency: Leo Burnett USA