Via GOON Media, Christopher Guest & GO Film Provide Intel with Musical Tech Support  

HOLLYWOOD, CA, September 12, 2007 - GO Film's Christopher Guest is no stranger to the synthesis of music and comedy...in fact, he's an iconic presence in this arena, achieving cult hero status as a member of Spinal Tap and as a director, writer, actor, and composer on numerous films.

Guest now brings his talent to two Web-based spots for Intel, "Everything Has Changed" and "Set I.T. Managers Free".

Created by MRM Worldwide and McCann Erickson, the spots function as music videos of sorts, driven by tracks Guest composed with CJ Vanston.

The pieces are featured on a specially created website, and tout Intel's "Hard Meets Soft" campaign.

Dan Finnerty (soft rock-software) of The Dan Band and Rob Giles (hard rock-hardware) duet on both songs, conveying the changes afoot at Intel, changes that marry hardware and software technology like never before.

The project originated with Duncan Mitchell, SVP Creative Director, MRM Worldwide, who approached GOON Media about crafting a musical piece that would get the message across. 

"When you create advertising for the Internet, the work has to be worth people's time, it has to charm more than sell," said Mitchell. "Our task was to tell the story of a complex and breakthrough new Intel technology for IT managers. We decided to tell the story of this powerful product in song, with a soft rock singer representing software, and a hard rock singer representing hardware. At the end of the song they come together, rocking harder than either could on their own. We wanted this to be smart and funny, and because it involved music, Christopher Guest was the prefect choice."

The product is a suite of hardware that is embedded into PC's, which enables network management software to do much more than ever before. This entirely new way of hardware and software working together makes IT manager's jobs much easier.

While Guest helms traditional spots through GO Film, GOON serves as an incubator for alternative and new media pursuits, bringing nontraditional marketing and creative development together.

After composing the songs with Vanston, Guest devised the visual elements of the ads, which bring Finnerty, Giles and their band members into an office setting where they perform their respective parts.

"Chris was drawn to the project because of the music element," recalled GO Partner/EP Gary Rose.  We were given a laundry list of computer terms, which CJ and Christopher used to craft lyrics and a song that not only made sense to IT guys but was great musically."

Who would have ever thought one could create a singable lyric out of the term remote manageability? Even the multi-talented Guest admitted the task was challenging.

“I’m computer literate but would not consider myself a Mac genius,” said Guest. “We had to write music and lyrics about things most people have never heard of.”

Spots Titles: "Everything Has Changed" and "Set I.T. Managers Free"
First Air Date: 7/23/07

Client: Intel
VP, Sales and Marketing Group/Director, Integrated Marketing: Nancy Bhagat
Integrated Marketing Manager, Business: Sandra Lopez
Integrated Marketing Program Manager, Business Client: Travis Hockersmith

Agency: MRM Worldwide and McCann Erickson
SVP Creative Director, MRM Worldwide: Duncan Mitchell
Senior Copywriter, MRM Worldwide: Andrew Payton
EVP Executive Creative Director, MRM Worldwide: Michael Jacobs
SVP Executive Producer, McCann Erickson: Jonathan Shipman

Music and Lyrics: GO Film
Christopher Guest,  C.J. Vanston

Telecine: Nice Shoes
Colorist: Ron Sudel

Shoot Location: Los Angeles, CA