Advertising As Art (or, The Greatest Song You Can't Download...Yet?)

As a jazz musician, the bulk of my listening over the past several years has been in that genre. Still, that's not to say that I don't have a soft spot for a really well-crafted pop song every now and then, and my CD collection supports that idea.

I should also mention that, during their visits over the years, Mom and Dad have gotten me hooked on HGTV, which they watch religiously during Clock Tower. During the summer, I've been known to flip over there after the Rangers game, and I watched a bit last night to take my mind off how badly both the Rangers and Cowboys did at the same time. (If you're wondering, my favorite HGTV show is "House Hunters"; I always like to try and guess which of the three houses the prospective buyers will choose, and I'm right more often than not.)

Needless to say, most of the commercials on HGTV are of the home-improvement variety, and one that's been airing for a while really jumps out at me. It's an ad for Olympic paint, and not only is the concept cool--the person doing the painting sees future enjoyment of the room being painted (Mom holding up baby, Dad or Son reading the paper while drinking coffee at the table, kids jumping on the bed, etc.) in shadows on the wall--but the tune being sung behind it is thirty seconds of pure pop perfection. And thankfully, it's on YouTube so I can share it here:



After seeing the spot a number of times, I decided to find out if that was in fact a real song (as opposed to something created specifically for the commercial) and who the artist was. But a bit of Googling led me to some advertising music forums (yes, you truly can find a page for nearly anything on the Internet!), and discovered that it was in fact written for the commercial.

But one of the posters at the first linked forum provided a bit of hope with the response he got from writing the company directly:

Campbell-Ewald created the music specifically for the commercial. There is currently no name to the song or a particular group that it belongs to. Because of the positive feedback that the commercial has obtained, further development may occur and the song may be extended.

So maybe it will become a full-blown song someday. And kudos to the Campbell-Ewald folks for putting a bit more artistry than usual into their advertising.