It’s the Super Bowl, Eh: The Making of Dave Grohl and Crown Royal’s Big Game Love Letter to Canada
Oh, Canada. There’s never a bad time to sing out the praises of this beautiful and welcoming land - including during one of the biggest cultural events on the USA’s calendar.
That’s certainly Crown Royal’s approach, who enlisted none other than bona-fide rock legend (and long-standing Canada fan) Dave Grohl to impart a message of appreciation for the country’s contribution to the world during the Super Bowl. A contribution that includes, as chance would have it, football itself.
The spot has understandably gone down a storm in the Great White North, and provided a reminder to the rest of the world of just how much Canada truly can be thanked for. The combination of understatement and sincerity - all channelled through Dave Grohl’s uniquely engaging delivery - makes for a potent cocktail.
Tying it all together is a satisfyingly shreddy guitar rendition of the Canadian national anthem, as though Nirvana themselves had recorded it as a cover.
To find out how the ad - and its memorable sounds - came together, LBB’s Adam Bennett and Zhenya Tsenzharyk spoke with RSA Films director Jake Scott, Anomaly's founding partner and global CCO Mike Byrne, ECD Seth Jacobs, creative director Mark Sarosi, and One Thousand Birds NY’s lead sound designer and mixer Hayley Livingston.
Above: Dave Grohl offers us a whistle stop tour of Canada’s proudest achievements in this Super Bowl spot for the iconically Canadian Crown Royal Whiskey.
LBB> Hello, all - what were your initial visions heading into this shoot, and how closely does it align to the finished film we see on-screen?
Hayley> Working on this spot was a blast. Since the creative team had a clear vision and the editors did a great job laying everything out, we were able to jump right in and do our part pretty seamlessly.
Jake> It’s worth mentioning that the creative team at Anomaly who were behind this idea are old friends and people that I’ve worked with a lot over the years. So we had a kind of shorthand already, and when they asked if I was interested in this central idea of ‘Thanking Canada’ we were able to - after several phone calls and Zooms - craft it all out conceptually.
The tricky thing was that if it got too clever or too big (and by ‘too big’ I mean too glossy or too stylised) you’d lose that sense of non-irony. So we went into it with an attitude that nothing should be ironic, and it should be totally sincere as far as Dave Grohl’s delivery was concerned. We then needed to strike that balance with humour and a degree of pathos. If we went too silly or funny we might have been in danger or somehow diminishing Canada’s national achievements… So striking the right balance in terms of tone was a big priority.
We also wanted it to feel like it had all been put together in a studio, which is exactly what we did. Everything was shot in or around the studio. What was a massive help, of course, is the sheer likeability and approachability of Dave Grohl himself. He’s got this wonderful way of being familiar with people.
Mark> To be honest, it landed of exactly how we drew it up. It’s a multi-media romp that felt disruptive in the context of all the other ads, it’s entertaining but not at the sake of being educational (which was important to us).
So… not much changed at all!
LBB> And Mike, can you tell us how you first landed on the idea to 'Thank Canada' on the day of the big game?
Mike> A Canadian whiskey, Crown Royal believes in exceptional generosity. The first ever bottle of Crown Royal was created as a gift of gratitude - given to the King and Queen of England upon their first visit to the new Commonwealth of Canada. So, you could also say that gratitude is at the core of our brand and its story.
We started researching what else came from Canada, and we were blown away by just how many amazing inventions, innovations and people also came from Canada. So, we felt the most disruptive thing we could do on the Super Bowl, America’s biggest stage, was to say Thank You to our generous neighbors to the North.
Also, in the briefing one of the territories talked about how Americans are the most generous people in the world. It felt apropos to use the biggest stage to celebrate that.
LBB> So what made Dave Grohl the right person to relay that message?
Jake> He doesn’t come across as performative. He’s totally unpretentious which, again, worked perfectly for the tone we were aiming for. It was almost a bit like children’s television in terms of the simplicity and honesty of it. I was really pleased we achieved that.
We went into it thinking, blimey, this is such a significant date in the American calendar and we’re telling them that football was invented in Canada. But we were fortunate we had someone with the talent of Dave Grohl to help deliver that message.
Seth> Dave Grohl is a self-professed Crown Royal super fan - the product has been part of every single backstage ritual for his band for the past 27 years.
He’s also a kind, generous and gracious dude, and he admits that if it wasn't for RUSH (the iconic Canadian rock band) he probably would have never become a musician.
Oh, and one more note on his Crown fandom… his fans knew of his love for Crown so much so that one of them hand-knitted a cape to wear made from the small purple bags that each bottle comes in. Dave lost this cape some years ago, so we only found it fitting to make him a new one to use in our film.
LBB> Dave Grohl seems like a guy with a good understanding of comedic timing. Did you find that to be the case, and how would you describe the experience of working with him generally?
Jake> It feels as though a lot of comedy in modern advertising draws on irony. But with this one we just thought, ‘nah, this is Dave Grohl. He talks, he’s a storyteller, he’s a raconteur who’s comfortable in front of the camera’. So there was no need for irony with this. I couldn’t tell you anything that we ‘did’ to get this performance out of him - it’s just him being him. In recent memory I can’t recall a shoot that was as fun or as playful as this one.
Prior to this shoot, I’d actually just finished reading his book (which is a brilliant read, by the way). I realised from reading that book how much of his language and way of speaking comes from nothing other than sheer authentic experience. He’s Dave fucking Grohl - pretty much the last of the living rock legends. Oh, and he genuinely loves both Canada and Crown Royal. We couldn’t have dreamed of a more perfect spokesperson.
LBB> And Hayley, what was your process for getting that guitar-noodling sounding just right?
Hayley> The guitar is played by Donna Grantis, a legendary Canadian guitarist who has recorded with Prince, and it was truly such an honour to mix her playing.
Her track was recorded on a lot of different microphones, so our main job was parsing through all the recordings and finding the best ones, plus trying different combinations to get the fullest sound possible. Some sections called for different mic combinations to get that result, which made it a fun puzzle to sort out.
LBB> On a technical level, how did you go about recording and capturing the sounds for sound design?
Hayley> For sound design, we foley-ed some of the smaller moments but were mostly cutting sounds from One Thousand Birds’ original library. We have a lot of excellently recorded guitar amp sounds filed away, so we pulled some of those to layer under the guitar at certain points to add some realistic texture.
A lot of the other supporting sound design was directly tied to what’s in the picture, yet not exactly seen; for example, under the air hockey table shot, we used actual hockey sounds to add some playfulness and character.
LBB> How long did it take to complete all the audio-based requirements for the project? Was there a particular step that took longer than the others? And if so, why?
Hayley> It’s commonly the other way around, but for this spot the sound design was pretty straightforward and the mix was where we spent the majority of our time. It took a lot of tweaking to make sure both the guitar track and Dave’s voice were both sitting front and centre, but without competing with each other and the underlying sound design.
LBB> Jake, the shoot sounds like it was a tonne of fun - but were there any challenges that you ran into along the way?
Jake> Well, mainly that it rained. I mean, it was torrential rain. Around the studio it was just pounding down, meaning anything that we needed to shoot outside - there’s a shot of a guy with a paint roller, and another with a football on turf - was just physically difficult.
But no, other than that it was one of those shoots where everything fell into place. It was a pleasure.
LBB> And is there anything that any of you feel you'd do differently if you had your time again?
Mark> We’re pretty darn proud of the way it turned out, and I'm not sure we’d change much. Maybe dial up some more of the multi-media aspects, and incorporate some more archival footage or imagery.
LBB> Is there a particular part of this ad of which you’re especially proud, or that you think viewers should watch out for if they didn’t catch it the first time?
Hayley> As a guitarist myself, I’m really proud of how the guitar came out in the mix. I think we really got it singing. And it was an honour to mix Dave Grohl, since he’s a legend.
Jake> A cool easter egg is that the desk at which we see Dave sitting has an incredible history. Fleetwood Mac recorded their eponymous album on that desk, and it’s also been used by Tom Petty and Nirvana. Paul McCartney, Trent Reznor, Rage Against the Machine… I could go on. It’s kind of a Holy Grail of desks. It’s the desk world’s answer to the Ark of the Covenant.
LBB> And finally, the ad is surely set to go down a storm in the great white north. Do you have a farewell message for any of our Canadian readers?
Jake> Yeah - you guys are awesome. I’m a frequent traveller to Canada - in fact I’m headed to Vancouver in March to work with a crew who I know as some of the most welcoming, warmest, and generous-hearted people anywhere on the planet. Vancouver’s easily one of my favourite cities in the world, and the people are a huge part of that. The scenery doesn’t hurt, of course.
Hayley> I love to head out and visit. Montreal really isn’t that far away from us, and the bagels rival New York’s.
Seth> Just to, again, say thank you. Truly. You’re known for your humble nature but you really have given so much to all of us, so you deserve a big old glass of gratitude. We’re sorry we could only scratch the surface of all the incredible contributions you’ve made to the world at large, but we hope the Super Bowl audience learned a thing or two.
