Well, well, well, this is a welcome sight. In a new ad for Chobani, director Michel Gondry brings fresh fruit to life as musical instruments, to perform composer Jon Brion’s original arrangement of Burt Bacharach’s “What the World Needs Now.” It’s a fun, sweet spot that aligns perfectly with not just the brand’s image, but the director’s reputation.
This is the second commercial we’ve seen in the last few months using Bacharach’s classic–the other was Andra Day’s cover for Hyatt’s Oscars ad. But the fruit band in a field is an appropriately wholesome vibe for a company that uses no preservatives, only non-GMO ingredients, milk from cows not treated with the bovine growth hormone rBST, gives 10% of its profits to charitable causes, and known for its innovative management.
It wasn’t that long ago that we were treated to Gondry’s inventive imagination on a pretty regular basis, through both ads like Levi’s “Drugstore” and Motorola, music videos like Daft Punk’s “Around The World,” and films like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, The Science of Sleep, and Be Kind Rewind. Late last year, he directed a spot for Bacardi, but it wasn’t exactly signature Gondry. Last week we got a hint that marketers were embracing his particular whimsy again with a new FedEx ad, so maybe this is the start of another run of branded Gondry fun. Here’s hoping.
For more on Chobani, check out the first episode of Fast Company‘s “Innovators Uncensored” podcast, with Chobani CEO Hamdi Ulukaya.
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