M&M's turn 75 years old this Thursday, and the Mars brand is beginning a year-long birthday celebration with a musical collaboration between Zedd and Aloe Blacc, who have reinterpreted Sammy Davis Jr.'s 1972 classic "The Candy Man" for a modern audience.
Zedd and Blacc's full "Candyman" music video is already online, but M&M's is unveiling its own 60-second spot (created by BBDO New York) Monday night on NBC's The Voice, featuring snippets from the video.
AdFreak has the spot here exclusively:
The new song has melodic echoes of the original, but departs pretty significantly from it, too. "I'm super excited to team up with Aloe to finally share our reimagined version of 'Candyman.' We were totally inspired to put a completely fresh spin on the song, which is already such a classic," Zedd said in a statement.
Blacc added: "I'm inspired by greats like Sammy Davis Jr., so I was really excited to revisit 'The Candy Man" with Zedd and make it our own."
Zedd and Blacc are both signed to Interscope Records, which has also struck brand deals for many of its other stars, including X Ambassadors, Imagine Dragons and Gwen Stefani.
The original version of "The Candy Man" was written by Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley for the 1971 film Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory. Davis reportedly didn't actually care much for the song, though it did become his only No. 1 hit.
See Zedd and Blacc's full "Candyman" music video below.
