Last year, I composed and produced the score to a television commercial for Germany’s passenger rail system, Deutshe Bahn. Though we do quite a bit of commercial music for Europe, the spot, beautifully shot, very edgy and very funny, was a bit different than anything I’d done to date with my sister company IV Music, so I really didn’t know how it would be received.

Apparently it was received well! The spot, called Der Chef kommt, won 8 awards including 2 New York Festivals Awards, EuroBest, Effie, EPICA and 3 DDP Awards. If you don’t know what these awards are… well, neither do I, but it’s always nice to have something I scored get some thumbs ups.

In the score, I was asked to strongly convey the feeling of ennui that office workers might feel, then move straight to a buffo, Big-Valley Western gunslinger as the Boss arrives back at the office, EARLY, because he’s taken the new rail system instead of driving. No problem… we all know what ennui sounds like, right? Remarkably, my first draft was accepted with a minor revision to the vocal in the second half. It was a great gig.

Here’s the short version of the commercial

And here is a great article on IV and what CEO/ CCO Steve Keller is doing with audio branding.