VB AND SYMPHONY
George Patterson Y&R Melbourne and Foster’s Australia have refreshed the long standing VB theme music in a most peculiar way for their most recent
In a departure from the current campaign, the blue singlets and stubbie shorts traditionally associated with VB were replaced by black ties and tuxedos as 95 musicians from the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and Orchestra Victoria took to the stage at the Melbourne Concert Hall.
Performed solely on 451 VB bottles and 6 timpani drums, the VB Symphony recreated the 40-year-old VB theme music, note for note. To achieve this, the musicians collaborated with renowned conductor Cezary Skubiszewski who designed and invented an array of new instruments to allow the performance to come together.
Three months of development and rehearsal were required before the VB Symphony was ready to be performed on stage at the Melbourne Concert Hall.
Title: VB Symphony
Creative Director: Paul Catmur
Writer: Jim Ingram
Art Director: Ben Couzens
Agency Producer: Romanca Jasinski
Production Company: Directors Group
Director: Ben Saunders
DOP: Germain McMicking
Producer: Craig Griffin
posted by CB @ 5:11 PM
40 Comments:
6/10 for the ad. 10/10 for making a VB ad with the VB anthem front and centre.
very nice indeed. i had this emailed to me and was very jealous. good work to all involved.
Top work boys.
I reckon it would have been awesome if not for the Honda choir spot. It's still pretty cool but there's always that problem when a spot is just that wee bit similar to another recent piece of high profile work.
Amazing. Love it. I bet VB drinkers will love it as well. Well done.
Pure genius. How hot is Ben Couzens?
fuck me.
10.09pm Who cares about the Honda choir spot, it's not a problem to those who count (no not the award judges) - the punters!!!
Ads are supposed to be for people...remember?
VB drinkers will love it. They'll sit on their couches with the misses, drop a sly fart and blame it on the dog and say, "look darls, I drink a classy drop".
Great stuff.
Awesome! Give the boys something to practice whilst on it. Great work guys.
Bloody brilliant. I hear they also did an alternate version where they played War Pigs by Black Sabbath as an encore.
such good work. I hope they do some more stuff with the orchestra. There must be so many cool spin off things they can do with it.
Very jealous.
Yes, yes, Ben Couzens is hot!!
Best thing yet for VB. I think the orchestra/Honda Choir thing is only an issue for industry folk.Obviously lots of talent still left at Patts.
Mammoth effort!
Well Done Cuz and Jim-bob.
A good ad for the agency and the creatives involved. Not sure it's that great for VB. Mind you, CUB wouldn't take a shit unless a focus group told them it was ok so maybe they they know somethng I don't
12:15...
Regarding the Honda choir similarity only being an industry thing, let's not forget that this is an industry blog. There are probably plenty of punters out there who quite like the Harvey Norman jingle. That doesn't mean it's good nor does it mean it should be lauded on this blog. The orchestra's execution is brilliant. The idea itself is derivative of a widely seen and awarded piece of recent work.
Signed, Jealous First Year Award School Dropout Working On Catalogues For A Below The Line Sweat Shop.
It would have been even more awesome if the guy out the front of Paddy's Markets in Sydney hadn't been doing the same thing on a smaller scale (with a much bigger repotoire) for the last 12 months. Hmmmm.
FANTASTIC boys- I knew VB was highbrow stuff. Love it.
Hope you are both completely tops.
Love Brig
Genius lads, you've just spured on Australias next 'classical' artist. I'm heading to the bottleo to practice, anyone keen to join me?
great. very refreshing. and i now realise that the VB tune is as iconic as the marlboro anthem (and the winfield theme, for that matter - remember when cigarettes were good for you?). no small feat. they even have the moxie to smash the product/logo at the end. i thought ben cousins was in rehab in california...
Soooooo much better than the awful stuff with the underaged drinkers ending up in hospital after having a VB and a bad souvlaki.
But...still think they could have fitted one drinking shot in there. Coz much as I love the idea, it still doesn't make me thirsty like the old, old stuff did.
Apparently the VB theme was first performed by the Melb Symphony, and some of the same musicians performed in this version too.
As for spin-off ideas, the website http://www.vbsymphony.com.au has competitions for people to submit recordings of their own music created on VB bottles, ringtones etc. Nice one.
12:15 sounds like you never sat in a full cinema with a thumping sound system when the honda ad came on.
you couldn't ignore it. people loved it. many clapped. and they ripped it off at the year's academy awards.
i think non-award geek aussies will love this VB ad too.
Why would you want to do your own version of the ad?
Cowsense and Ingrams, you're the real deal.
Respect, Colombian.
Thats a very clever ad and beautifully put together. Nice to see that Patts hasn't let any of the bullshit over the last year stop them from dishing up great work for thier clients - the test of a good agency. I wonder if Saatchi's can do the same...
This has got to be the toughest brief on earth. Reinvent the VB brand to appeal to a younger audience without upsetting the existing (and presumably massive) number of current drinkers who (also presumably) probbaly pick up heavy objects for a living and generally hate everything invented since 1982.
Keep the song. Do sopmething amazing with it. Ben Couzens you're a bloody genius. And as for the Honda analogy, STFU, Big Ad came from British Airways, Sam Kekovich came from Sam Kekovich. Everything's been done. The trick is to do it well.
Cracker Ad. Well done kids.
5.12 said:
"Apparently the VB theme was first performed by the Melb Symphony, and some of the same musicians performed in this version too."
A bit unlikely. The theme was first performed in the mid 60s, so the musicians would have to be bloody old. You're probably referring to a re-recording in the mid 80s.
(Actually, I think the theme was originally created and used as a generic theme for CUB, and only became the VB theme later on.)
Well done guys. This really proves the Matrix-esque theory about reality. Way to step outside of ‘the program’ boys!
Anyone got a hair-straightener I could borrow?
Love it! Extremely brilliant.
Do a few VB bottle solos at the Bonza Bash this year.
Rebecci
P.S. Cuz you're collecting groupies by the minute. You so hot!
It's "The Magnificent Seven" by Elmer Bernstein
- Why don't you just say you invented the internet. Advertising wankers.
Here's an interesting stat for the day. There's a VB opened in Australia every 30 seconds.
For the little bit of 5:12 in all of us.
Introducing Elmer Berstein's...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jm3kqis8YGs
This has been playing non-stop around the agency for the last week, and people are whistling the tune as soon as it hits 4pm.
Well done, ya cunts.
p.s. for those who want to know, it's Ben fiery tattoo that makes him so hot.
Not bad for a couple of kids with stars in their eyes and a pocketful of dreams.
And yes, Cuz is hot. Despite being the owner of a blue leather suit.
john
Cuz is hot, his work is hot and his band is hot.
From all the chicks in the 'Order of Dragon Worshipers.'
xx
Can't believe this isn't going to get a run on TV! Why viral only? What a waste!
Thanks for the YouTube clip 3.49. Great movie. Yes, you're right of course, the VB tune is, pretty much, just the music from the Magnificent Seven. I say 'pretty much' because CUB never paid for it, but did a rip off. They wouldn't get away with such a close copy today, but back when it was first done it seems no one worried too much. (Or maybe no one had heard of Australia back then.) On the other hand, Since The Magnificent Seven was itself a rip off of The Seven Samurai, it just shows we're all crooks at heart.
Nice job. Pity they lost the account before it even made it to air.
You gotta wonder about the morals in this industry.
We over-rate ourselves in advertising, thinking we're more important than we actually are. But no brand owes more to a single agency than VB (and the entire Foster's portfolio) owes to Patts.
For it to end because a few ex-staff do deals behind closed doors...well, it smells.
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