WK’s Interactive Muscle Music for Old Spice
Launching today, ‘Muscle Music’ is a first-of-its-kind embeddable interactive experience centred on the brand’s new scent, Danger Zone – the ‘scent of courage’. Fan favourite Crews composes music using nothing but his flexing muscles, achieving what no man has ever done before. The video is available on Vimeo and through Old Spice’s social channels.
‘Muscle Music’ also provides fans with an interactive platform that allows them to use their keyboards to control Crews’ muscles and create their own music – and to live the fantasy of being ripped enough to smash a snare drum with their pecks. Users are also able to record their videos and share with friends via social media. This ground-breaking experience was made possible by a collaborative production between Old Spice, Wieden+Kennedy, director Tom Kuntz of MJZ, Mackenzie Cutler, The Mill and Vimeo.
Erik Laroi, editor of the spot, represented by MacKenzie Cutler, claimed that his task threw up some tricky, but enjoyable challenges: “The director shot all the instruments separately and they were individually triggered by a mechanical rig. I only had a single hit for each instrument to work with, so the challenge was in looping & synching each instrument visually to the music, which was a pre-recorded track. But Tom Kuntz and I were able to change the rhythmic elements when we felt it necessary. That was fun because it gave us freedom to really re-compose the track.
“I also had to synch each muscle with each instrument. There were 12 muscles and 12 instruments, so it was a matter of choosing which pairing looked best.”
Crews has had a varied career playing the tough guy. After a six-year stint playing in the USA’s National Football League, he pursued an acting career and has starred in ‘The Longest Yard’, ‘Friday After Next’, ‘Everybody Hates Chris’ and scripted Gladiator-style show ‘Battle Dome’. He became the Old Spice spokesman in 2012 with the ‘Smell Is Power’ campaign, which saw him gate crash other brands’ commercials.
The piece was directed by Tom Kuntz through MJZ, a man with a history with Old Spice commercials. In 2010 he captured the quirky ‘The Man Your Man Could Smell Like’, and in 2011 he shot ‘Scent Vacation’.
Of course it’s not the first time Wieden+Kennedy and Old Spice have pushed the boundaries of interactivity. The Old Spice Responses campaign featured previous smell-man Isaiah Mustafa answer Twitter queries via 30-second YouTube videos, in a typically arrogant style.
Credits
W+K PORTLAND
Creative Directors: Jason Bagley & Craig Allen
Interactive Creative Director: Matt O’Rourke
Copywriter: Andy Laugenour
Art Director: Max Stinson
Director of Interactive Production: Pierre Wendling
Senior Interactive Producer: Mike Davidson
Account Supervisor: Jordan Muse
Director of Broadcast Production: Ben Grylewicz
Audio Engineer: Charlie Keating
UX Designer: Jake Doran
Creative Tech Lead: Billy McDermott
Executive Creative Directors: Mark FItzloff / Susan Hoffman
Media Team: Kelly Muller, Kerry Antos, Lisa Feldman
PRODUCTION COMPANY
Production Company: MJZ
Director: Tom Kuntz
Line Producer: Suza Horvat
Executive Producer: Scott Howard
Director of Photography: Chris Soos
Production Designer: Andrew Reznik
EDITORIAL
Editorial Company: MacKenzie Cutler
Editor: Erik Laroi
Assistant Editor: Brendan Hogan
Producer: Tatiana Vasquez
VFX
VFX Company: The Mill LA
VFX Supervisor: Phil Crowe & Nick Tayler
Flame Artist: Tara Demarco, Chris Knight, Sarah Eim, Gareth Parr, Billy Higgins, Glynn Tebbutt
VFX Producer: Ari Davis
2D Lead: Nick Tayler
MUSIC + SOUND DESIGN
Composer & Sound Design: Daedelus
MEDIA PARTNER
Media Partner: Vimeo
VP Creative Director: Blake Whitman
Production Lead: Abby Morgan
Development Lead: Ryan Hefner
Development Partner: Wildlife
