To celebrate the end of NFL training camps and the start of the regular season, Gillette and BBDO NY released “Training Tracks” a music video using only the sounds of NFL players and other athletes training.
Who could pull of such an unusual, even avant-garde concept? Probably only Academy Award-winning director Michel Gondry. So that’s who they got. Gondry directs the spot, based on a track conceived by Phil Mossman of LCD Soundsystem fame. The “music experiment” was produced at the acclaimed Ocean Way Studios in Hollywood.
“Training Tracks” features NFL stars Champ Bailey, Kayvon Webster, BenJarvus Green-Ellis and Giovani Berard, as well as former Notre Dame offensive guard Mike Golic, Jr., all of whom participated in Gillette’s “Built for Training” program this summer. You may not recognize all the athletes as they come into and out of focus, but the sounds they make work surprisingly well. The spot is also expertly shot (obviously) and a much-welcome departure from Gillette’s normal blase approach to advertising (or worse yet, that terrible Adrien Brody/Andre 3000/Gael García Bernal campaign). Let’s hope they continue putting out more interesting and unique (an overused word in the ad world for sure, but one that definitely applies here) work like this spot with new agency Grey in the future.
Credits:
Agency: BBDO New York
Client: Gillette
Title: “Training Tracks”
Chief Creative Officer: David Lubars
Executive Creative Director: Toygar Bazarkaya
ACD/Art Director: Jake Shaw
ACD/Copywriter: Brian Wiesenthal
Executive Producer: Brian Mitchell
Music Producer: Loren Parkins
Producer: Cordelia Kipp
Account Director: Ben Griffiths
Account Executive: Alfredo Lang
Production Company: Partizan
Director: Michel Gondry
Executive Producer: Sheila Stepanek
Producer: Grace Bodie
Post House: Final Cut NY
Editor: Adam Rudd
Sound Design Company: Henryboy
Sound Designer: Bill Chesley
Producer: Kate Gibson
Composers and Arrangers: Phil Mossman & Liv Spencer