Ad of the day album of the year nominees sing on posters in cool grammys promo adweek

Ad of the Day: Album of the Year Nominees Sing on Posters in Cool Grammys Promo

Even Taylor Swift's wild postings can carry a tune.

Best lip-syncing ever?

This fun, innovative spot from TBWA\Chiat\Day, touting the Feb. 15 Grammy Awards telecast on CBS, takes the practice in an unexpected direction.

The work features a catchy mashup of tracks from all five Album of the Year nominees: Kendrick Lamar, Alabama Shakes, Chris Stapleton, Taylor Swift and The Weeknd. While the artists themselves don't appear, their album covers, T-shirts and promotional posters do. And when a dude gets off a bus and saunters down the street, the artwork comes to life all around him as the artists sing along to their own music.

"We wanted to do something to get people excited for the Grammys, featuring multiple artists, that had a bigger conceptual idea than the usual list of celebrities, but didn't have the time or money to get them all together for a shoot," agency creative director Jason Karley tells Adweek.

"That difficulty led us to the idea of a mashup of all five nominees," he says. "We were inspired by a cool music video that we found using this effect of the lips moving"—Roy Kafri's "Mayokero" from 2014—"so we contacted that video director, Vania Heymann, and got him."

The spot is a bit goofy—in a good way—and strangely hypnotic. One big plus: It's not overdone. (If, say, Kendrick Lamar started dancing on his album cover, that would've been too much.) The treatment remains subtle; only the lips move, so it might take a moment for viewers to realize the artists are mouthing off at all.

Plus, putting an average guy—actor Micah Dijon—at the center of the action keeps things grounded. This isn't complete insanity, just a mildly skewed version of reality.

"He's the anchor that guides us through the spot, and gives the camera motivation," Karley says. "It's much more compelling then just cutting around and seeing various posters and things singing to us. But he is on his way to the Grammys—there's a ticket in his pocket—so that's the justification for everything coming to life around him."

CREDITS Client: Grammy Awards

Agency: TBWA\Chiat\Day LA Chief Creative Officer: Stephen Butler Creative Director: Jason Karley Creative Director: Micky Coyne Sr. Art Director: Tiffany Lam Sr. Copywriter: Angie Ogburn Managing Director: Stan Fiorito Account Director: Pamela Lloyd Account Executive: Ashley Pratt Account Executive: Caroline Hanley Director of Production: Brian O'Rourke Executive Producer: Anh-Thu Lee Producer: Micah Kawaguchi-Ailetcher Director of Business Affairs: Linda Daubson Executive Business Manager: Lisa Lipman Business Affairs Manager: Mimi Hirsch Group Planning Director: Neil Barrie Planner: Audrey Tyau Production Company: Pretty Bird Director: Vania Heyman Director of Photography: Hunter Robert Baker Executive Producer: Suzanne Hargrove Head of Production: Tracy Hauser Producer: Natan Schottenfels Editorial & Animation: Editor: Vania Heyman Online, VFX and Color: Brewster Parsons VFX Supervisor/Lead Flame Artist: Louis Mackall Flame Artist: Graziella Gandolfi Tracking: Jarrod Avalos VFX Producer: Jami Schakel VFX Coordinator: Amanda Macke Executive Producer: Darcy Parsons Executive Producer: Jason Cohon Mix: Beacon Street Studios

Lead Mixer & Sound Designer: Rommel Molina Executive Producer: Erin Reilly Assistant Mixer: Aaron Cornacchio Music: Squeak E Clean Remix By: Justin Hori for Squeak E Clean Productions Creative Direction: Justin Hori Executive Producer: Carol Dunn Senior Producer: Amy Crilly