- Product/Brand - Marks & Spencer
- Spot - Follow The Fairies
- Song Title - Fly Me To The Moon
- Composer - Howard
- Publisher - Essex Music
- Artist - Gregory Porter & Julie London
- Record Co - Universal - Decca
- Music Supevisor - Native
- Ad Agency - RKCR Y&R
- Creatives - Mark Roalfe, Chris Hodgkiss, Pip Bishopk
- Film Company - Independent Films
- Film Director - Phillipe Andre
- Post Production - MPC
- Air Date - 7/11/14
Marks & Spencer’s winsome Follow The Fairies TV commercial is among this year’s seasonal showstoppers.
Soundtracked by Julie ‘Cry Me A River’ London’s 1963 performance of the evergreen Fly Me To The Moon, it was first aired on November 7.
Less than a fortnight later, M&S suddenly replaced the original film with a fresh edit featuring a guest vocal by the hugely acclaimed, Grammy-winning jazz singer Gregory Porter.
The surprise move, which coincided with an announcement that Universal-Decca would release the duet as a download single in aid of children’s charity The Make-A-Wish Foundation, undoubtedly added an extra sparkle to the M&S offer.
However creative agency RKCR Y&R, music supervisors Native and Universal’s Globe sync team clearly had their work cut out pulling the project together on schedule.
According to RKCR Y&R account manager Georgie Rechner, the track was chosen “in August before we shot the film”.
But, after further discussions with Native’s Dan Neale, Globe’s Adam Gardiner says he “was tasked with giving something that is faultless from start to finish a new lease of life for the M&S.
“Gregory Porter was the only artist we wanted to be involved,” Gardiner continues. “So when Decca suggested pairing a new Gregory vocal with Julie London’s original we knew we had to make it happen.”
Actually getting it to happen was quite another matter. According to Neale, “entire sections of the backing track had to be re-recorded and remixed so that the transition to Gregory’s solo verse in the middle would be seamless.”
Classical Brit winning producer Jon Cohen was called in to replicate the vintage Sixties sounds. The only remaining element was Porter’s honeyed vocal which was cut on October 29 at The Loft studio in Gateshead – the day before the American with the ‘jazz hat’ played The Sage in support of his Liquid Spirit album.
Last minute or not, RKCR Y&R’s Rechner was clearly delighted by the results.
“We love the Julie London version and wanted this to be our hero launch track. It also allows us to highlight a magical duet between past and present artists,” she says.
