The new music video from OK Go for ‘Needing/Getting was made in partnership with Chevrolet and launched on the grandest US marketing stage of all – as a Super Bowl commercial.
The Chevy’s Sonic featured front and centre in this ‘brand and band’ Super Bowl commercial collaboration – called “Let’s Do This”.
Revolving around the theme of ‘adventure’, the Super Bowl stunt ad shows the band driving the Sonic as it skydives, flipkicks and bungee jumps – all the while the vehicle itself is activating the instruments playing the music.
The video took four months of preparation and four days of shooting and recording and there were no ringers or stand-ins; band member Damian took stunt driving lessons to prepare for the spot.
The team set up more than 1,157 homemade instruments, 55 pianos all tuned to the same octave and 288 guitars over two miles of desert outside Los Angeles. A Chevy Sonic was outfitted with retractable pneumatic arms designed to play the instruments, and the band recorded this version of Needing/Getting, singing as they played the instrument array with the car.
Each piano had the lowest octaves tuned to the same note so that they’d play the right note no matter where they were struck.
The ad version of the video not only aired to the 111m NFL football fans watching the game on NBC, but also on the official NFL online channels. Within a week of the game the ad had already racked up 1.5m plus YouTube Views, while the video itself had an even more impressive 4m hits.
Indeed, the online version of the spot also drives viewers to the Let’s Do This.com website and to Facebook – encouraging fans to view stats, information and to share.
Comment:
This alliance highlights how brands and bands are increasingly forming alliances as the music industry seeks alternative commercial models.
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