Embracing music has become a popular strategy for making potentially dull brands seem cool, and Gillette is leaning hard into the approach with a new spot that turns its razors into part of an elaborate piano-playing machine.
Son Lux, an artist and producer who recently collaborated with Lorde, performs an original composition on the contraption, which rigs a second keyboard into a pulley system that controls the razors—which in turn press the keys on an actual piano.
The ad is meant to demonstrate the rotational capacity of Gillette's Flexball technology. That ends up succeeding well enough, which is a good thing, because otherwise it might just look like an awful lot of trouble to make a perfectly functional instrument unnecessarily complicated just to squeeze in the product. Regardless, Gillette, agency Grey and production company 1st Avenue Machine get props for helping to bring viewers a nice song.
The project also recalls Gillette's symphony of sweaty dudes on gym equipment from last fall (via BBDO), meant to promote the P&G brand's deodorant. GE, meanwhile, has been teaming up with electronic artists to sample the sounds of its heavy machinery, and turn them into very listenable records.
It's hard to say whether razors, free weights, shipping containers or jet engines make the best tunes, though.
CREDITS
Client: Gillette
Agency: Grey
Spot: "Piano"
Brand Agency Lead: Debby Reiner
Senior Vice President, Account Director: Sarah Beaumont
Vice President, Account Director: Elizabeth Gilchrist
Account Supervisors: Thomas Ghiden, Katie Stirn
Account Executive: John Nelson
Executive Strategy Director: Howard Roberts
Cinematographer: Zach Mulligan
Composer: Ryan Lott ("Son Lux")
Production Company: 1st Avenue Machine
Agency President, Global Chief Creative Officer: Tor Myhren
Group Creative Directors: Jeff Stamp, Leo Savage
Associate Creative Directors: Lance Parrish, Steve Nathans
Copywriter: Nick Terzip
Director: Asif Mian, 1st Avenue Machine
Editor: Akiko Ikawaka, Cut + Run
Executive Producer: James McPherson
Mix: Phil Loeb, Heard City
Music Producer: Zachary Pollakoff
Film Producer: Katy Fuoco
Assistant Film Producer: Megan Swan