Few events can bring together the various fabrics of American culture like the Super Bowl, and this year's numbers prove it: With 123.7 million viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research, last Sunday's (Feb. 11) Big Game was the largest watched the broadcast since the Apollo 11 moon landing in 1969. And that means plenty of eyeballs for several high-profile ad slots, which were priced accordingly: Ads for the event this year cost up to $7 million for a 30-second ad , in accordance with Wall Street Journal.
This makes working on such commercials a high-stakes game, not to mention one that is highly sought after in the world of music supervision and production. This year, boutique music and sound design company Barking Owl Sound landed seven such spots, doing sound design, mixing and production for commercials with Booking.com (featuring Tina Fey) and Etsy. music arrangement and production for Budweiser spot. sound design, mixing, production and original music for Starry commercial with Ice Spice (No. 10 on Advertising signlist of the best ads from the event). mixed and produced for Paramount+'s Champions League commercial. Sound design and production for Kia commercial. and original music and production for Homes.com's Mascot commercial. And this high-profile job for the company earns the co-founder/executive creative director of Barking Owl Sound Kelly Byatt its title Advertising sign's Executive of the Week.
Here, Bayett discusses the behind-the-scenes work that goes into audio production of a Super Bowl commercial. how has it helped build Barking Owl and its creative team, as well as its new music library, along with the opportunities it brings for them? and what's next for the company. “With seven positions this year, it really solidifies our position in the industry moving forward and opens us up to new opportunities,” says Bayett. “We can rise to the challenge and our team can excel on a range of projects under the most pressure. Moving forward, we are stronger than ever and ready for anything.”
This week, Barking Owl worked on the music for seven Super Bowl commercials, including Etsy, Budweiser, Kia and more. What key decisions did you make to help make this happen?
In our industry, getting Super Bowl ads is definitely about relationship. A dealership and a customer will rarely go to a vendor they don't know and trust for a piece with millions of dollars on the line. Our key decisions are actually based on long-term building rather than what seems quick and easy. [It’s about] focusing on developing relationships that last and constantly keeping the work you do fresh and interesting.
Can you tell me about how the company started and your philosophy around what you do and what work you choose to do, especially in those areas?
I was a single mom and my then boyfriend, now husband, and I decided to start a music and audio company in our home. Fourteen years later, we've added mixing, brand partnerships, great studios in Los Angeles and New York, and a global team of composers and writers. Our philosophy has been to create a company that focuses on creativity and feels like home. We are interested in the art of sound. If you look at any work we've done for the Super Bowl, or anything on our reel, you'll see that we're not just pulling sounds from the library. We create them for every moment and have been really fortunate to attract clients who value and appreciate the process.
What's the standard process for how you work on an ad like these?
We'll get a brief from the agency, and from there, it's time. We get on the phone and talk about the process, the creative directions, and then we start creating and building. It is important for us that the agency is involved in the cooperation, so that there are no surprises from either side. We keep it fun and light, we have amazing executive producers in New York and LA Ashley Benton and KC Dossett that keep everyone on task. It's the only time of year where every job reaches the same finish line, so it takes incredible planning and organization.
Your work on these was a mix of sound design, mixing, production, arrangement and original music. How do you approach each of these roles differently?
We have different teams of experts for each role. Original music can be the hardest a lot of times because we create themes, tones and movement on an incredibly fast schedule. You work with personal taste, and when it comes to thoughts about music, there is no right or wrong, it's all about feeling. Sometimes, you just don't like something because it doesn't move you, and that can be challenging. We have to become detectives and figure out what doesn't click emotionally or tonally. Sometimes the whole team is involved, with the exception of one hold, and even though the majority rules, I feel like we've failed if everyone hasn't left happy.
The arrangements are really about the timing and vision of the track. Sound design is one of the most fun parts, and also the part that if we get it just right with hours of recording and sound manipulation, it will feel like we've done nothing at all. Mixing is the glue that holds it all together, giving room for dialogue, VO, music and sound design. A great mix is dynamic, a bad mix is over-compressed and you lose the artistry of every element you've so painstakingly created. The destruction of our work by lazy mixers inspired the creation of our mixing department.
Music production work like this is a competitive space, dealing with both huge companies and smaller houses. How can you compete in this environment and stand out from your competitors?
It's an incredibly competitive environment and it's getting more competitive as new companies pop up every day. I've never been one to look around and see what other people are doing. I am solely focused on our mission, our purpose and the work we are doing out there. How do we show up every day? Is it good enough? We're also a company founded by women with female creative leaders, which is extremely unusual. I came into a space that was so insanely male, we wanted to bring a different perspective and change the landscape with female composers, mixers and engineers. Everyone matters and everyone is supported here. When people feel supported, they are free to create better and more inventive work. We have created a structure where we all work as a team and there is no internal competition. It's also a huge difference. Our employee retention is incredibly high and we all know each other so well, it really is like family.
You also create your own music library. What will this allow you to do and how might this allow you to grow in the future?
I'm so crazy excited about it. We have this amazing library of about 15,000 original pieces from years of demos made for commercials that never sold. The quality we expect from composers and years of creating and scoring have resulted in an incredibly varied, diverse library of tracks that are of the highest creative standard. We didn't know exactly what to do with them or how to build a library, but we knew we could offer something unique to the industry as well as expand our reach into TV and film. Last year, we brought in a partner, Kirkland Leeds, who leads these types of strategic initiatives as CEO. Kirkland brings years of experience with Sony Music, Universal Music Group, Stevie Wonder and YouTube Music. He was a great addition to the team bringing the understanding and knowledge we really needed.
What does success look like to you for an ad like this? And with seven spots in this year's game, what does it allow you to do moving forward?
We are not responsible for the overall idea, so success for us is seeing if we have executed the idea in the best possible way. Sound design right in the space, music heard and arranged in a way that tells the story and makes you feel something, mixed where each sound element complements the other — that's success. With seven places this year, it really cements our position in the industry moving forward and opens us up to new opportunities. We can rise to the challenge and our team can excel on a range of projects under the most pressure. Moving forward, we are as strong as ever and ready for anything.
