Human Takes 2017 AMP Awards Best in Show for Adidas Originals

They did it ‘their way,’ and the results speak for themselves. Human, the New York and L.A.-based music and sound studio, took home the Best in Show at the 5th Annual AMP Awards for Music and Sound, held on Thursday, May 23 in New York. The winning entry was an Adidas ad titled “Original is Never Finished,” created by the agency Johannes Leonardo. It features an adapted version of the song made famous by Frank Sinatra, “My Way.”

The awards were presented at a gala celebration held at the Diamond Horseshoe, the eclectic event space housed at the legendary Paramount Hotel in midtown Manhattan. The event also saw Mars, Inc., being inducted into the AMP Hall of Fame in recognition of its legacy of using music to define its brands’ identity.

Human’s Best in Show winner was also the winner in the Outstanding Adaptation/Arrangement (All Media Platforms) category. It was one of two winners for Human at the show; the studio also won for its work for National Geographic in the category of Best Execution of a Sonic Logo/ID.

The Adidas Originals spot which earned Best in Show status features a hard-edged, hip-hop-styled adaptation of the 1969 Sinatra hit, with snippets of Old Blue Eyes’ version interspersed with more gritty, updated segments. (“My Way,” which features lyrics by Paul Anka, is itself an adaptation of the French pop hit “Comme d’habitude,” written by Claude François and Jacques Revaux, with lyrics by François and Gilles Thibaut.) Human’s James Leibow and Morgan Visconti did the arrangement, with the studio’s Michael Jurasits serving as co-creative lead with Visconti. It was produced for Human by Executive Producer James Wells. 

Antfood, the Brooklyn-based music and sound design studio, won both its awards for a single project: “Hieratic Gaze,” an ambitious experiential installation for the technology company HP. It won in the awards competition’s two new categories: Best Use of Music and Sound in Experiential / Events and Most Innovative Process & Execution. The latter category is designed to honor work that demanded a complex production scenario to execute. “Hieratic Gaze” was part of an immersive experience staged in a 360-degree dome erected at the Panorama Music Festival in New York in 2016. 

This was the first year the AMP Awards tapped a Curatorial Committee of top agency creatives and music producers to review its judging results and select the Best in Show winner from the category winners across the breadth of the competition. The committee was led by AMP Awards Chair Susan Credle, Global Chief Creative Officer of FCB.  

A frame from the film for "Hieratic Gaze," scored by Antfood. The entry won two AMP Awards.

Commenting on the show’s top winner, Credle noted that “there was quite a lot of talk about the Best in Show. I say this because it’s important to know that this talented, extremely well-curated jury put a lot of thought into the decision. First, the visceral power of the music against the film was obvious. But then the conversation went to the degree of difficulty in the sound design, the musical choices and the mix. Hearing experts talk about this tremendous effort – which, on first viewing, feels effortless – was the deciding factor. The best work should never feel like work at all.” 

Two categories ended up in ties: Best Use of a Licensed Pre-Existing Song, which was shared by work from peermusic for Apple and Beta Petrol for Sandy Hook Promise, and Outstanding Mix, which was shared by work for Under Amour from Sonic Union and Hennessy from Sound Lounge.

To view all the winners, go to: http://www.awardcore.com/amp/winners/. The complete list of AMP Award winners includes:

 --Best Original Song (Commercial, All Media Platforms), goes to COPILOT Music + Sound for "Nuka World Official Trailer" for Bethesda Softworks.

--Best Original Score (Commercial, All Media Platforms) goes to Jeremy Yang for “AICP 2016 Titles” for AICP.

--Outstanding Adaptation/Arrangement (All Media Platforms) goes to Human for “Original is Never Finished” for Adidas Originals.

--Best Use of a Licensed Pre-Existing Song (All Media Platforms) (Tie) goes to peermusic for “Dive” for Apple and to Beta Petrol for “Evan” for Sandy Hook Promise.

--Best Sound Design (Commercial, Any Media Platform) goes to Future Perfect for “Enjoy the Chase” for Nike Golf.

--Most Effective Use of Music in a Campaign (All Media Platforms) goes to Droga5 for “Google Pixel – Made by Google” for Google.

--Best Use of Music for a Film, TV or Game Promo / Trailer goes to ABKCO Music & Records for “Kong: Skull Island – Official Trailer” for “Kong: Skull Island.”

--Best Use of Music and Sound in VR/360 Marketing goes to Pollen Music Group for “Pearl” for Google/ATAP.

--Best Use of Music and Sound in Experiential / Events goes to Antfood for “Hieratic Gaze” for HP.

--Most Innovative Process & Execution goes to Antfood for “Hieratic Gaze” for HP.

--Best Band+Brand Partnership goes to Yessian Music for “Cord” for Lincoln.

--Outstanding Mix (Commercial, All Media Platforms) (Tie) goes to Sonic Union for “Make That Old” for Under Armour and to Sound Lounge for “The Piccards” for Hennessy.

--Best Execution of a Sonic Logo / ID (All Media Platforms) goes to Human for “National Geographic Mnemonic and Brand Anthem” for National Geographic.

--Excellence in Radio goes to Sticky Audio Labs for “Maestro” for Mountain Dew.

The Hall of Fame induction for Mars, Inc., was presented by Matt Miller, CEO of AICP. Accepting for the marketer was John Starkey, Vice President of Gum and Mints at Mars Wrigley. An historical reel of Mars work featuring music both original and licensed for such brands as M&M®, SNICKERS®, TWIX®, MILKY WAY® and many others accompanied the presentation. 

The show opened with a comic animated short that touches on concepts like Artificial Intelligence and the role of technology in the music business. Created by the New York visual effects and design boutique BUCK, it features music from our multi-award winner Antfood. 

And of course, the AMP Awards wouldn’t be the AMP Awards without live music, and this year was no exception. After the trophies were handed out, the indie rock band The Dig, published by and appearing courtesy of The Bicycle Music Company and signed to Roll Call Records, took the stage at the Diamond Horseshoe. They were followed by a set from Hang the DJ, which consists of industry insiders Francis Garcia and Charlie Davis. When they’re not DJ’ing, Garcia is Chief Creative Officer of Shout It Out Loud Music, and Davis is the Senior Director of Marketing and Commercials at BMG. 

The AMP Awards is the only juried advertising contest to focus on the unique contributions made to the industry by creators and producers of music and sound. This year’s awards marked the 20th Anniversary of the founding of its sponsoring organization, the Association of Music Producers, which was founded in 1997 to promote the work of advertising’s music and sound companies and audio mixing and recording facilities.  

Gold sponsors for the 2017 AMP Awards included Disco, BUCK, SHOOT and Source Creative. Contributing sponsors included FCB, Grey New York, Imagem, Kobalt Music, Kontent Core, Razor & Tie, Sugaroo!, Veritonic and Manage Ad Musicated and the School of Cornish platform do exactly this – showing off the local area and culture to great effect."