Who: Dr. Oetker’s Ristorante brand, with Giants & Gentlemen and Apollo Studios for sound.
What: Three new custom love songs developed from more than 47,000 submissions to a Valentine’s Day contest promoting Ristorante’s dessert pizza Ristorante Cioccolato Pizza. People answered a series of questions about their significant other for a chance to have the details turned into a full-length song.
The winning couple also received a diamond ring valued at $10,000 that is made from a Ristorante Cioccolato Pizza (more on that below).
When & Where: The songs (hear them all below) are available on YouTube and Spotify.
Why: Ristorante has made romance one of its brand pillars, and this awareness campaign was specifically designed to appeal to younger, more digitally savvy consumers.
How: The three songs are well-crafted representations of contemporary pop songs and ballads with lyrics inspired by people’s responses to the questionnaire. We can’t say for sure, but “Hooked On You” might be the first song to ever reference ice fishing (complete with groan-inducing puns like “there’s no wall I wouldn’t climb” and “there’s no perch too high”).
The winning song, “Love Never Gets Old,” is a celebration of a 50-year relationship between Wayne and Cathy, a retired paediatric nurse who, we’re told, “will always be Wayne’s love doctor.” Sample lyrics: “You’ve been in Wayne’s world for half a century/that’s a lot of garage sales, fishin’ n’ tall tales/playin’ bridge n’ gin rummy.”
The campaign launched in February, before everything went sideways. But while the pandemic and subsequent lockdown created some minor challenges, G&G co-founder and chief creative officer Alanna Nathanson says the campaign “moved along very smoothly, all things considered.”
All of the songs were created remotely by the G&G team of writer/ACD Brandon Tralman-Baker, art director/ACD Steven Kim and Nathanson, along with Apollo Studios music director Spencer Hall.
About that diamond: According to an article entitled “Five mundane things that can be turned into diamonds,” synthetic diamonds can be made using two different processes: the high temperature and high pressure method and something called the vapor deposition method.
According to the explanation by Dr. Oetker, their particular diamond was crafted using the former tactic, by baking a Ristorante Cioccolato Pizza in a 2,000-degree celsius oven at a pressure of 60,000 atmospheres for 120 days. “You know, to set the mood.” Oh, and the mundane things that can be turned into diamonds: ashes, hair, peanut butter, tequila and pencils.
