Hear the Best Tunes in Town: Getting Boom Shack A Lak with The Sync Agency

Lemonade’s most recent addition to the Sonics and Sounds Division talk about their highs, and memorable moments in a career that spans at least two musical eras! The Sync Agency are creative director Dan Dunbar and producer Marion McCormack... 

Q> So let’s start from the beginning… When & how was Sync Agency born? 

Dan: Marion and I worked together at a music consultancy for a number of years and although we both loved working there, we wanted to focus more on creativity being at the heart of everything we do, so we decided to go out on our own and launched at the end of 2007. It was a very scary time but the freedom to do things our own way was so liberating. 

Q> Marion - talk us through your roles & your background 

Dan is Mr Music, there is nothing that he cannot reference. He is forever listening and creating playlists for every brief imaginable. He is at his happiest when he has a new brief to get into, and loves the challenge of always continuing on to the very end on any brief, even if we have found the perfect track (A USP to Sync is we only charge one search fee… Dan is obsessed with cracking the brief and will search till you tell him to stop!) As Creative Director, Dan is always embracing new music and if any of you have ever listened to his playlists then you will understand that his love for new music is all encompassing. 

Dan: Marion looks after the clients and the licensing side of things, she is like the devil/angel on my shoulders, telling me whether a track can be cleared, will be within budget, and whether it has been licensed before. Marion always tells a client we can do something… 

Marion: Dan has often produced miracles! 

Q> What has been your proudest moment so far as a company? 

Every piece of work that goes on air is a proud moment, we absolutely love the thrill of the process. 

Q> List your top five most iconic pieces of work and some background on the process.

It is very hard to select, there have been many iconic pieces. 

Our favourite piece of work still remains the Virgin Atlantic campaign. From start to finish it was a joy to work on. We found the track "Feeling Good" by Muse very early in the process but strongly caveated that it was very difficult to clear, the creatives Pip and Chris absolutely fell in love with the track, so we just HAD to get it… 

We also really love an M&S Summer commercial that ran during the 2012 London Olympics - we suggested Here Comes The Sun which Gary Barlow re-recorded for the project. It is such a brilliant song and we were so delighted to get it cleared. 

Last year's Lynx campaign celebrating 25 years of Lynx Africa was a really fun project to work on throughout too. It was an action-packed film that was great to edit tracks to, we got to revisit some classic 90s tunes, and Apache Indian's Boom Shack-A-Lak is one of those classic songs that you can't help but smile whenever you hear it. 

Q>Your client list is impressive - what was your favourite project to work on and why? 

There was a week that started with recording a full orchestra in Abbey Road, Studio One, and ended recording the acapella group The Swingle Singers in a garden in West London... that pretty much sums up the joy of this job. One epic, one intimate. The pleasure of hearing world class musicians making it sound completely effortless. Two different types of project, both with pieces of music we’d found after extensive music searches and had re-arranged to enhance the films, working closely with great teams and longstanding clients. Nothing better! 

Q> What stories or anecdotes from your years in the business can you share with us? 

We are far too polite to gossip! 

Q> What inspires you/the company? 

Dan: Getting to discover or make new music every day, never knowing what you’ll be looking for from one hour to the next.

Q> What are your company values?

Marion: Music. Listening to, finding and making brilliant music. 

We started the company based on creativity, so that will always be at the heart of everything we do. 

Q> Who is your dream client? Include a wish list of brands/projects. Dream big! 

This is such an impossible question, we love every job we work on and every project offers something different. The dream client is someone who really values the role of music, starts thinking about music from the very start of the project and works passionately to get what they want. 

Q> Describe The Sync Agency in five words 

Creative, inexhaustible, tenacious, independent and passionate. 

Q> What do you believe is your unique selling point? What sets you apart? 

Never giving up... ever. 

Q> Lemonade Reps were talking recently to a client about you, and the client noted you had won nearly every award going - which is your favourite awarded piece of work and what awards left to win would you most like to win? 

Virgin Atlantic - Such a great team to work with, the best cover of all time, two legendary songwriters.. and a campaign that people still remember a decade later. Although awards are great, the achievement that would mean the most to us would be a full advertisement break during a prime time ITV Saturday night slot at Christmas. We have come close…!