- Product/Brand - Premier Inn
- Spot - WakeUpWonderful
- Music Title - Wonderful Life
- Artist - Katie Melua
- Composer - Vearncombe
- Publisher - Hornall Brothers
- Master Rights - Dramatico/Warner Music
- Music Supervisor - Native
- Ad Agency - RKCR/Y&R
- Creatives - Andy Forrest, Nicola Hawes
- Film Company - HLA
- Film Director - Simon Ratigan
- The Mill - The Mill
- Air Date - 22/8/15
It’s one thing to consider releasing a TV ad track as a charity single but it can take a concerted effort by over 40 different individuals to make it happen!
That’s the size of the team which, says Native music supervisor Dan Neale, ensured that children’s hospitals in London and Sheffield will benefit from sales of Katie Melua’s new version of Black’s 1987 hit Wonderful Life – as featured in Premier Inn’s latest WakeUpWonderful campaign.
“It was a real joint effort which required that everybody from Premier Inn and agency RKCR/Y&R to labels Dramatico and Warner Music kept in constant communication,” Neale continues.
“The laws surrounding master royalty donations are particularly complex and time-consuming and Sumit Bothra at Katie’s management company ATC did a great job sorting that out.”
Starring comedian Lenny Henry in a cameo role, the commercial’s feelgood factor derives from atmospheric early morning footage filmed in picturesque locations all over the UK by award-winning director Simon Ratigan.
Its inner calm, on the other hand, is drawn from Melua’s delicate reappraisal of the song as recorded for last year’s BBC Radio 2 Sounds Of The 80s compilation.
“But it was only after the sync was in place that we started to think about releasing the track for charity,” says Neale.
“Great Ormond Street Hospital is Premier Inn’s affiliated charity while Katie is a patron of The Children’s Hospital Charity in Sheffield. The single is available digitally, and all record label and artist royalties will be split equally between the two of them for a full year.”
