The Creative Outpost audio team worked on the sound design for the recently launched UK campaign for Jollibee, the Filipino fast-food chain, as it continues its expansion on UK shores. The campaign was created by London-based agency OLIVER.
Sound Designer, Alex Wilson-Thame, who had the salivating pleasure of working on the new suite of adverts, tells us about the creative process involved.
“With specific product focus on the Jolliburger, Chickenjoy and Spicy Chicken Sandwich, I was tasked with giving a different sonic character to each advert.
“The Jolliburger spot and its nod to a NASA rocket launch (à la Apollo 11), with the roar of the rocket afterburners, the detachment of the umbilical connections and the explosive bolts, really creates the dramatic tone that compliments the undeniable classic ‘Also Sprach Zarathustra, Op. 30’ composed by Richard Strauss… also more commonly known as ‘That track from 2001 Space Odyssey!’ Topped off by the vocal talents of Mr Adam Longworth as our NASA Comms ‘Captain’ for the burger lift-off – I used a suite of plug-ins to turn the crisp recording from the booth into the noticeable radio-wave quality that is synonymous with all things space!
“The Chickenjoy advert was a homage to Jollibee’s history. Although not that well known here in the UK, the brand has been going since the late 1970’s! The idea of the commercial is that as soon as the actor bites into the chicken, they are reminded of the history of the brand and how long people have been enjoying its food! With a synth wave backing track that helps portray this sense of nostalgia, this is interrupted by my dulcet tones, doing my best pastiche of voice overs from a by-gone era. As well as lending my vocal talents, I created this cheesy backing track with a drum machine and singing the word ‘chicken’ in many rhythms and harmonies - which is subtle but really completes the sound of this section. When a client says ‘Absolutely no notes, fantastic’ - you know you are on to a winner!
“The Jollibee Chicken Sandwich ad was predominantly focused on the music as the driving force of the piece. However, as the advert features three characters that represent the different qualities of the burgers - ‘Spicy/Crunchy/Juicy’ - the team wanted each of these characters to have their own identity. I achieved this by dusting off my musical chops and adding percussive, guitar and brass layers to the music track to fill it out and make it more unique to the visuals at certain points. This, twinned with the fiery Sound design, really complimented the upbeat and fun nature of the advert!”
