Walkman Project

I never wanted this blog to become a showcase of the work that we do at Dare. But I can't help it. I'm genuinely excited about this super bit of Sony work that we are doing with Fallon.

Fallon have created the above spot as “the first ever ‘monophonic’ advert – in which 128 musicians play only note at a time to reconstruct an original music piece created by Hollywood music director Peter Raeburn.” And I hope you'll agree that it is most wonderful.

What gets me going all the more though is the digital side of things. Well it would, wouldn't it? Flo and the guys have developed what they are calling the Walkman Project.

Here digital cunningly take the simple song from the TV ad and let the great musical unwashed come along and join in. Nothing that new there. That's just UGC bollocks isn't it? Well, erm, yes. But the genius is all in the delivery.

The song is split into four parts, bass, drums, lead strummy rythmn bit and harmony (I'm not musical, I have no clue if those are the right terms). Then you can download a karaoke version of the track minus whichever of those four parts you want to play along with.

Anyone with a hint of musical talent about them can join in and be filmed playing one of the four parts. Magically, you can then mix four individual performances together to make the song from its constituent elements. So simple, but the results are brilliant.

And what I love all the more about the campaign is the 360 media inclusiveness of it all. The Walkman Project URL is on the end frame of the TV ad. And judging by the cross-track posters I saw yesterday, the URL is pretty much the most important element of the outdoor advertising.

The idea works best when you get people involved. So Fallon are going out of their way to use ATL media to do just that - get people joining in online. How refreshing. That's integration.