Gocompare.com’s Gio Is Back with Four New Musical Scenarios

With the return of iconic tenor Gio Compario fresh in the minds of the British public, Gocompare.com unveiled the four latest campaign spots for the moustachioed opera singer on Sunday 6th September.

Following their arrangement created for the ‘Comeback’ spot launched in August, Paul Cartledge and Philip Jewson of Yellow Boat Music have created new arrangements and produced the music for ‘Duchess’, ‘Balcony’, ‘On Your Bike’ and ‘Train’.

‘Comeback’ saw Principal Tenor Wynne Evans returning to TV screens to perform as Gio Compario in an orchestral reboot set to soften the delivery of the price comparison jingles. The music arrangement for ‘Comeback’ was performed with the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra and Rodolfus Choir, and has been used as the core basis for the new arrangements in all four spots.

The same professionals that worked on ‘Comeback’, including celebrated Director Graham Rose and creatives Chris and Sian Wilkins, have created the four new 30” second spots. Each of the films are pastiches of well-known television and stage dramas; from a lady of the manor, to easy riders and star-cross’d lovers.  All of course interrupted in a timely fashion by Gio, with his solution to their budget woes.

Commenting on the music behind the different arrangements, Philip Jewson says, “It’s been great working on the latest instalments for Gocompare.com. It is always a joy seeing the versatility and variety you can bring to a song by playing with its arrangement. The brief was for each piece to retain the softness of the orchestral arrangement from Comeback but take a playful spin on the visual themes for each commercial.”

“For Duchess we took inspiration from Edwardian music to match the time period of the frosty manor house using slow tempo strings. In Balcony we also looked to a specific time period, using lutes to emanate the Elizabethan bard. Train and On Your Bike looked to cultural references and On Your Bike was actually the only piece which did not require an orchestra, using banjos and harmonicas to achieve that middle-American sound.”

Chris and Sian Wilkins collaborated with Yellow Boat Music, providing storyboards and concepts for the four commercials (and Comeback), before the filming process. With music playing such a key part in the ads, this was imperative to allow Paul and Phil time to create demo tracks for the shoots to ensure the visuals would sync to the final sound. This also involved working closely with Editor, Simon Wilcox and Sound Engineer, Simon Capes when the final songs were recorded.

Discussing the sound layering used to complement the music and visuals Sound Engineer, Simon Capes says: “I always try to add a lot of subtle detailed sound effects to the spots and create a more 'filmic' soundtrack. Of course Wynne's voice is the hero but all the layers help to bring the spots to life. Paul and Phil have a wealth of experience in being able to 'hit the spot' when it comes to complementing the tone and humour of the action and it was great to be working with the 'A Team' again!”

Talking about the collaboration in music and post Paul Cartledge adds, “It’s extremely difficult to get the little quirks and refinements you can develop in the studio to sync visually to something which has already been filmed. Simon Wilcox is an extremely talented editor and was able to pick the split second moments from the film which would work with the final music. It was a pleasure to work with him and Simon Capes at Soho Square Studios and we’re all really proud of the result.”

Nicholas Hall, head of creative and broadcast at Gocompare.com, said: “The Gocompare.com song has become iconic thanks to the skilful compositions and memorable lyrics used to create the various versions of the jingle. The songs are the result of a real team-effort, and we are proud to have worked with Yellow Boat Music to create the arrangements for our new adverts. “

The four new commercials air from 6th September nationwide in major programmes including X-factor, Celebrity Big Brother, Emmerdale and Coronation Street.