How does music, especially specific songs, really make you feel? Using real people and a documentary approach, we explored our emotional connections with the songs that we love. We had each person bring a song that has deep meaning in their life and filmed them simply listening to that song.

The result is a campaign that feels different than any other campaign about music. By removing the track from the spot, we invite curiosity about what that song is and allow the viewer to fill in the blanks for themselves. Instead of a film driven by a song, it’s many songs that inspired a campaign.

To convey the deep emotional connection we have to songs in our lives, we had people listen to a song that was “important” to them, and captured their emotional responses. Each song triggered a unique reaction in the listener, as varied as the people experiencing them. But the viewers didn’t get the chance to hear it: instead we heard the room tone of the environment. This made the films unique, and compelling, with many viewers wondering, “What song are they listening to?” and commenting, guessing, suggesting, and naming “that song.” Playing the licensed music in earphones, and not in the soundtrack, helped create an avatar for viewers to recall our own feelings associated with songs, reminding us of the powerful “universal connection”. The decision to make “spots about music without any music” helped our creative communicate, stand out, and be achieved within budget.