Touchdowns on the Field, Harmonies in the Studio: How SOUTH Music Scored New Travis Kelce Ads
According to the Gen Z: The Culture of Content Consumption study, the topics younger audiences are most interested in relate to internet culture, and humour. And if there’s one person who’s every movement is being captured by the online zeitgeist right now - it's Kansas City Chief'’s tight end, Travis Kelce.
The internet, frankly, cannot get enough of Travis, and Experian, the world’s leading global information services company, knew he was just the man to front their latest campaign. The new commercials - which will be broadcast during National Football League (NFL) games as well as running on most broadcast networks and streaming services - combines football and finance to help promote the Experian Smart Money™ Digital Checking Account and Debit Card. Understanding how consumer-savvy younger audiences are, recruiting the NFL star to front the new series, aimed at a younger audience, was a stroke of genius.
Aware of the fresh young audience Experian were hoping to appeal to, SOUTH Music were brought on to work on an engaging and entertaining score with pulling power. Given the brief, the SOUTH team were inspired to compose in more of a contemporary space so as to effectively convey an authentic lightheartedness that Gen Z audiences would respond to.
With the first of the commercial series now in circulation, SOUTH Music creative director, Matt Drenik, and Experian chief creative director, Todd Miller, talk to LBB’s April Summers about the ways in which the series’ score speaks to younger audiences.
LBB> Congrats on these spots! Matt, how did SOUTH Music learn about this project and the initial brief you were given?
Matt> The project initially came in from my good friend Bernadette Spear (EP). She was working with Todd and the Experian creative group and had a cluster of spots that needed one music company to score. They wanted to make sure the scores felt cohesive, while also allowing for a good amount of collaboration between the Experian team and ourselves. We knew genres were still floating, but they had a good idea of the direction they wanted them to go in.
LBB> Todd, in what ways did SOUTH Music’s creative contributions elevate the work?
Todd> SOUTH was highly collaborative from the start. Our team came in with ideas we wanted to explore – we wanted to play with genre tropes, exaggerating them and using them in unexpected ways to punctuate the humour and help tell the stories. SOUTH pursued options for these, in addition to some great new ideas. By the time we all sat down in the studio, we were able to work together and craft it all together. It also became an excuse to do what the SOUTH Music team loves: jam, play instruments, talk music, and hang out. And, of course, create some excellent sounds for these great ads.
LBB> There is a fresh, much needed levity to the tone of each of these spots. How did you use music to foster a sense of trust and community, while also upholding a palpable sense of light-heartedness?
Matt> The ads all have a sense of humour to them that the Experian team wanted to make sure wasn’t lost in the music. For the Travis Kelce spots, they wanted the music to have a nostalgic twist to it, while also allowing beats for the humour to break through. The humour can be interpreted as lightheartedness. For the bigger brand level spots, the music needed to be contemporary to appeal to a younger audience. These spots embody a sense of lightheartedness as well, though this is achieved less through direct comedy and more through fantasy.
LBB> Travis Kelce is huge right now, and he’s been popping up in lots of ads, but this one feels different. How did you come up with an effective strategy that would best utilise the Kansas City Chiefs star’s strengths and USP?
Todd> We were jazzed when we locked in Travis. SNL was the clincher – go watch it again if you haven’t seen it yet. We knew he could do so much more than hawk products. He is unexpectedly great, and we wanted to create opportunities where Travis could be Travis. He’s hilarious. Even better, he’s open to poking fun at himself. Something not everyone is willing to do. He’s also just so friggin’ likeable and fun to be around and that you just can’t fake.
LBB> Matt, can you tell us a bit more about the in-studio collaboration of the process?
Matt> The creative team at Experian leans heavily on collaboration. Usually a music company will be briefed, compose, revise (sometimes multiple rounds), and deliver. Most clients won’t want to be heavily involved in the revision process beyond initial notes, but with Experian that experience was completely flipped upside down.
Todd and his team came into the studio, tweaked revisions, offered up great ideas, helped us craft melodic parts. Essentially, they became part of the musical creative process with us. It was a breath of fresh air. Beyond loving music and wanting to hang in the studio, they genuinely wanted to be a part of the creation. It says a lot about their belief in the importance of music and their own vision coming to life.
LBB> You worked together on five spots - how long did it take to complete this project? Did you learn anything new about your craft along the way?
Matt> We worked on and off for several months. There were multiple in-studio sessions with the team to make sure that we nailed the revisions. Again, the most refreshing aspect of working on this project was the collaboration between creators and clients. It’s not often we get clients in the studio, but when we do it allows all of us to flex creatively together and experience the power of music through different POVs.
LBB> Todd, is Experian happy with how the spots have performed so far? What has been the best piece of feedback you have received since this campaign went live?
Todd> The spots are doing great. We and the broader team are overjoyed with them for both performance and awareness. Just scrolling online shows that, too. And the whole Taylor Swift relationship thing sure hasn’t hurt. It has made the responses, gifs, and explosion of memes a blast to follow.
LBB> Do you guys have a favourite spot? And if so, what makes this one stand-out?
Matt> I love all my children, but if I had to pick one, it would be the "Fumble" spot with Travis Kielce. It’s fun and has a nice kinetic energy that was incredibly fun to score.
Todd> It’s almost cruel to make us choose! All the spots we did for the launch are different and showcase Kelce’s charisma in various ways. “Stats” plays with a classic scene. “Soaring” bends sports spot expectations. And “Fumble” shows how Travis just can’t get completely off the field. In all of them, Travis’ performances are just so spot-on, showing his great potential as an actor. If they were taking numbers in Vegas, I’d bet on a movie arriving in your friendly neighbourhood theatre.
