Walk Don’t Run with Sunrise
Johnny Smith’s 1954 track “Walk, Don’t Run,” built upon the chord progression of “Softly, as in a Morning Sunrise” by Romberg and Hammerstein, is a classic guitar standard popularised by The Ventures’ surf rock version in 1960. It was composed as a contrafact, playing upon “Softly’s” chords to create a new and diverse arrangement.
Its versatility, upbeat guitar strumming and timelessness persists to this day. Not only is the original version recognised by Rolling Stone magazine as one of the 100 greatest guitar songs of all time, but it has later been given lyrics and been covered by tens of different artists, spanning from Chet Atkins to Glen Campbell to Led Zeppelin to the Penguin Cafe Orchestra to The Trashmen. It was also cited as a large reason for Johnny Smith’s reception of the James Smithson Bicentennial Medal for his contribution to music. This jaunty tone suits Swiss mobile giant Sunrise’s latest airport-set campaign, handled by thjnk and production by Pumpkin Film, starring none other than tennis star Roger Federer and skier Marco Odermatt, which combines both a sense of playfulness and chaos.
We were happy to be involved in the licensing and re-recording of the classic track. Please feel free to take a look at the 45-second advert below.
Full Credits:
Brand: Sunrise
– Brand Director: Andreas Caluori
– Head of ATL & Brand Campaigning: Anna Leutar
Agency: thjnkzurich
– GF Creation: Alexander Jaggy, Pablo Schencke
– Creative Direction: Lukas Amgwerd, Lukas Frischknecht
– Text: Maira Weidmann
– Art Direction: Luca Stancheris
– Graphic Design: Moritz Houmard
– GF Strategy: Gordon Nemitz
– GF Consulting: Andrea Bison
– Consulting: Cornelia Nünlist, Lea Schneider, Michaela Bossard
– Producing: Benjamin Calcott
Production Company: Pumpkin Film Zurich
– Director: Adam Hashemi
– Executive Producer: Sonja Brand
– Producer: Stefanie Brand
– DoP: Marcel Zyskind
– Editor: Alex Jurkart
Post Production:
– Grading & VFX: Bacon X
– Finishing: Südlich-t
– Post Producer: Claudia Brand
– Media: Mediatonic + SirMary
Photographer: Lukas Maeder
