We’ve been busy on the production front, from new Fidelity spots with Boston’s Arnold agency to a new European campaign for Opel Insigna with McCann Frankfurt and a new branding initiative for Check N Go with Cincinnati based Sunrise Advertising.

As excited as we are about the recent work, we’re even more excited about a few new developments here at iV, including a new audio branding initiative that we’ll be rolling out in the next couple months.

We're working to create more opportunities for an open dialogue on how to use audio in more innovative and effective ways as part of an overall branding strategy. At the moment, we’re literally traveling the world, interviewing the creative heads from some of the most influential advertising agencies in the business. Soon, we’ll be sharing those conversations with you, exploring a myriad of opinions on the importance of music and sound in the marketing/branding equation.

Stay tuned!

We’re proud to announce that FlickerLab’s “The Wild Life” was selected as a Finalist in the prestigious Prix Jeuness 2010, hosted by the city of Munich, Germany. We’re grateful, too, for the opportunity to play a creative part in "The Wild Life," providing the score and theme song for each of the episodes

“The Wild Life” is an animated series created to teach children about the importance of doing our part to stem the environmental abuse that has taken its toll on our climate. The uniquely themed show also uses GO RealTime Animation software that enables each show to be animated in real time. The breakthrough technology reduces the time and expense usually associated with an animated series.

It's wonderful for us to be involved in a project that is being recognized not only for the quality of its production, but for the positive impact it can have in the lives of children and, hopefully, for our planet.

Thanks, FlickerLab!

Kerstin Arndt, Creative Director for KNSK, Hamburg, needed a piece of original music that would carry the visuals of a new spot for their client, German fund manager Union Investment.

Kerstin wanted something that was both "song driven" and "on brand" for the campaign. The spot itself was beautifully filmed by Berlin production company JO!Schmidt and directed by Martin Schmidt. With a great story and matching visuals for inspiration, we dove in to create the perfect mix of emotion and lyrics to serve as the soundtrack.

The resulting composition (which featured Nashville based independent recording artist Heather Bond) worked so well that both agency and client soon asked iV/iV2 and Bond to record a full song version to be made available for download.

The response to the visuals and the music was so strong, in fact, that KNSK and Union Investment decided to go one step further and create a full length music video. Weaving some of the footage from the commercial into a storyline written and directed by Andrej Gontcharov, the video was shot in Berlin and featured Bond, who was flown from Nashville to Berlin for the shoot. Beyond the inclusion of some of the visuals from the broadcast commercial, and the iconic "blue door" that was the centerpiece of the Union Investment campaign, no other client branding was part of the final long form video.

You can take a look at the full :60 spot here. Catch the full length video on on YouTube . The music video and full length song were also available for download at the Union Investment website.

Thanks to Kerstin, KNSK and Union Investment for thinking outside the box...and opening the "blue door" for us to such an exciting creative opportunity.

iV/iV2 recently completed scores for a major campaign produced by McCann Erickson World Wide and their client, German automaker Opel.

In addition to the usual :60 and :30 broadcast productions, the campaign features a three minute long-form movie, a “behind the scenes” cut and a two minute surround sound cinema version. The spots, directed by JO!Schmid über director Martin Schmid, are designed to feel like a movie trailer, highlighting the features of Opel's new Astra throughout the commercials.

Under the direction of McCann's Mark Rota, Nadine Mueller and Anja Pick, and inspired by Schmid's visual storytelling, our team of composers, musicians and engineers worked to create a score that delicately balanced the emotional impact of the music with the sound design and dialogue that were integral to the movie.

We'll post the spots soon so you can see...and hear...the results of the creative collaboration.

We were recently asked by our friends at New York animation house, FlickerLab, to help create a theme and score for a new animated series they’re producing, entitled “The Wild Life.”

FlickerLab, best known for their animation and graphic work in the Michael Moore films, “Capitalism: A Love Story,” “Bowling for Columbine,” “Fahrenheit 9/11” and “Sicko,” has recently merged with Copenhagen-based Gonzoft Television Animation, creatiors of BBC hit, The Nelly Nut Show. Together, they have created “The Wild Life,” an animated series that targets 8-12 year olds with the design of educating them on the subject of climate change.

iV CEO Steve Keller and composer Kurt Goebel worked together to create the theme, music score and cues for the series, which will debut on Denmark’s TV2. That debut is part of rollout strategy that will hopefully garner support for the series from other European Networks and, ultimately, the US market.

You can check out some of the episodes here on the FlickerLab website.