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- NBC News, “Today,” “Nightly News,” “Meet the Press”
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Reinvigorating an Iconic Brand Anthem
Man Made Music recently produced a 100-piece orchestral recording with feature film composer John Williams and collaborated with him on a fresh interpretation of his famous work, “The Mission,” which was commissioned as the “theme” for NBC News in 1984.
The assignment included the creation of a detailed creative brief and the production of ten minutes of new material with Mr. Williams, including three new themes for upcoming programs, and brand new main title arrangements for the “Today Show,” “NBC Nightly News.” Subsequent assignments have involved additional production and recordings designed to help each show integrate the new music into their broadcasts, and highlight the well-known NBC sonic logo.
We created and/or produced over thirty variations and renditions of the music, isolating out small elements for use across all brand platforms to highlight the NBC News brand “everywhere”.
NBC News has retained the substantial equity that it built with the original “Mission” music while bringing the recording, sound and sophistication level to a superior level. The new state-of-the-art surround-sound recording, and the substantial wealth of new themes and additional material will serve NBC News for many years to come.
- Mercedes 2003 E-Class Car
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Connect a brand across media
In 2003, the people at Mercedes engaged us to help launch this new series of Cars.
Mercedes wanted us to come up with a fresh, powerful way to enhance their existing marketing campaign, which was connected with the Men in Black 2 movie featuring Will Smith.
By creating an original rap-rock song featuring indie artists, starklove and JJ Appleton, we were able to draw out the campaign to greater levels. Our track complemented the Will Smith songs in the movie and made an even tighter
connection between the original music and the Mercedes brand. The song was highlighted in numerous events around the country and helped tie all of the Mercedes and “Men in Black 2” events together.
Event-goers response was extraordinary and Mercedes showed a 14% increase in sales for this car over the previous model year.
- ESPN X Games Franchise
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Create a Brand Anthem that Captures a Powerful Brand Personality
The X-Games brand is one of the hottest properties in sports television. The “X” is for “extreme” sports, which also describes the demeanor of this ESPN franchise.
The unique challenge in this project was to create a distinct sonic voice which would capture the irreverent personality of the program. We needed to create a sonic logo, brand anthem and brand associated music which would work throughout the show, including its numerous statistics cutaways and animations.
Creating continuity was especially important in that the X-Games is also known for utilizing a huge varied collection of fringe and unknown cuts of licensed music. The sonic elements would be part of the “glue” that holds the program together.
We created a more cohesive platform for the brand by creating a huge palette of sounds derived from the individual elements of the theme, which was a departure from the more traditional approach where the theme appears only at the top and bottom of the show and in some of the breaks. This palette infuses every element of the show with the brand personality of the franchise.
From the cutaway graphics and animation, to the bumpers, and wraparounds, the ubiquitous use of the sonic elements helps make the transmits the brand’s irreverent personality no matter when the viewer tunes in.
ESPN X-Games enjoy the benefits of having a franchise with a well defined sonic voice. It continues to see success and ratings increases.
- Showtime Network "Sunday Night"
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Break an unreleased song as the anthem for Showtime’s “Sunday Night” Campaign
Showtime needed a song to sell their Sunday night shows.
The song needed to be fresh, new and in their style. This was a big piece for them. Sunday night is their night to compete with HBO. Showtime had only a small fee available to pay for licensing to fill such an important role.
Man Made Music went to labels and publishers to find unreleased songs by either well- known or about to be well-known artists that fit the message Showtime asked us to help express. Once we found the song, by a multi-platinum artist, we signed an NDA to play it for Showtime. It was not to be released until after the promo aired. It was perfect timing for Showtime to have a first, an exclusive for a limited time. Showtime loved the song. MMM brokered a deal saving Showtime thousands of dollars by packaging and presenting a marketing initiative and selling its value to the label, publisher and artist’s manager.
Fat Boy Slim’s “It’s A Wonderful Night” was a hit for Showtime, and EMI was pleased with the thousands of dollars they received in network on and off air promotion.
- Fox International
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Create Sonic Voice that Resonates Globally
Fox wanted to create a singular international sonic identity that would effectively communicate to people in markets that spanned the globe and create continuity for the Fox network, which previously had a different look and feel in virtually every market.
Our challenge was to create a single approach that would be universally appealing and have the same meaning across such disparate cultural regions as Europe, Latin America and Asia. We needed to create a powerful, yet an intensely personal viewer-centric statement. The tag line “I am Fox” summed up the assignment: to allow each viewer to feel that the brand reflected them personally— their many different moods, their wants, needs, desires, and their passion for life.
We researched local music tastes in each market, looking for sounds that not only evoked the personality of the brand, but reverberated with the target audience—men and women 18-35. Not surprisingly, the music in all of the markets was dramatically different; however, what was surprising was the two common threads we found: they all connected to sound that was vocally driven and music that contained electronic instrumentation or beats that were derived from techno music.
Based on this finding, our solution was a stripped down “drum and bass” direction, which became the “heartbeat” of the project: simple, raw and elemental. This was coupled with an iconic vocal sound, which evolved into the sonic logo, representing the brand’s passionate, personal connection to the audience. We created two-dozen executions of the work which covered various genres and day-parts, exploring the possibilities of the “I am Fox” positioning. Subsequent to this project, the sonic elements were brought to the individual market web sites, cross-channel promotions and commercials.
A single integrated sonic voice for the brand that helped define the feel of the Fox network internationally. Fox’s unified brand platform has allowed it to compete more successfully internationally, and eliminate redundant marketing costs associated with ten different sonic identities.
- Disney International “Jetix” Brand
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Creating a Sonic Voice That Motivates an Age
How do you differentiate a new kids brand from the multitude of existing kid’s brands in the marketplace?
Create a global Sonic Logo for the brand that captures and expresses the Jetix attributes of “irreverent fun”, and appeals to boys 7-11. Create a global “language” for the brand mascot, “J”, that clearly expresses his emotions, and helps drive the storytelling of the brand in a way that kids can relate to.
We helped Disney respond to this challenge by developing sound and music that attracts kids by sounding like what the “big kids” listen to. To reach a 7-9 year old target audience, we created music that sounds like what 12-16 year-old kids listen to.
Man Made also created the unique “language” for the brand mascot, “J.” A language of utterances, attitudes and glottal speech that allows kids from around the world to understand and identify with J’s emotional state at any moment and help make a strong connection with the audience. Another key element was the creation of a sonic logo that “speaks” the name of the brand, following an onomatopoetic, “stomp,” “stomp” sound that is occurs when the mascot is coming in for a landing.
One of the most successful new brand launches for Disney. Early focus groups show a great affinity for the brand and the brand mascot, “J,” and the “Jetix” sonic logo.