Archive notice: This article was originally published on July 4, 2008. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
Recently, GreenLight has worked with leading advertising agencies in North America, Europe and Asia, including Wieden + Kennedy, Publicis, Element 79 and Young & Rubicam.
Portland, Oregon-based Wieden + Kennedy approached GreenLight for help clearing an image of actress Kim Novak for use in an Old Spice deodorant advertisement. After W+K’s creative team found the image in a book of historical photographs of famous personalities, GreenLight secured the copyright, allowing the celebrated actress’s likeness to be used in the advertisement alongside the memorable line “Blondes Prefer Gentlemen.” The advertisement was originally intended to run only once, but it was so well received that Old Spice extended the campaign.
“We knew this image would be perfect for our campaign, and GreenLight promptly arranged the clearance for us,” said Heather Smith Harvey, Art Buyer at Wieden + Kennedy. “Thanks to this support, we were able to create a highly attention-grabbing advertisement.”
In its work for Publicis UK, GreenLight enabled images of John McEnroe, Steve McQueen and other icons to be used in Ballantine’s whisky campaigns in Spain and Portugal.
“With GreenLight, we had a strong partner at our side during negotiations for rights and clearances for a high-profile campaign on behalf of Ballantine’s whisky,” confirmed Stacy Koetsier, Client Director at Publicis. “Corbis’s expertise in negotiations involving famous personalities was crucial to concluding the agreements. This enabled us to produce an impressive advertising campaign.”
For an integrated print, radio, television and online campaign for American Family Insurance, Chicago advertising agency Element 79 wanted to use references to cult figures from American popular culture. The tight schedule, combined with handling the work during the holiday season, posed a major challenge.
Element 79 approached GreenLight to obtain the rights to use clips from the popular television series Green Acres, The Munsters and The Brady Bunch. Thanks to its extensive network of Hollywood contacts, GreenLight secured the necessary rights in just three days, enabling Element 79 to present a successful advertisement.
“During preproduction, GreenLight gave us comprehensive support in acquiring licensing rights for these iconic American families,” enthused Patrick Brennan, Producer at Element 79. “Throughout production, our radio, television, online and print content was cleared quickly. We owe this largely to GreenLight’s excellent relationships with the studios.”
Y&R’s office in Jakarta, Indonesia, commissioned GreenLight to secure synchronization rights for the song “Que Sera, Sera” in a television commercial for Indonesian cement company Holcim. The famous 1956 Doris Day hit was recorded with new lyrics in Indonesian. The unusual combination of the song and the Indonesian language became extremely popular throughout the country and also attracted considerable attention online.
“GreenLight’s enormous experience and extensive contacts with this kind of clearance enabled us to create a successful campaign,” said Aryanto Nugroho, Group Account Director at Y&R.
“We relieve creative teams of this burden so they can invest more time and energy in developing great concepts,” explained Mark Sherman, Senior Vice President and head of GreenLight. “Our job is to provide legally watertight clearances quickly and cost-effectively so that great advertising ideas can flow.”