Olavi Virra’s Hopeine kuu plays in the advertising video of the Uber Eats service aimed at the British.
With an American taxi service Uber has had the food delivery service Uber Eats as a side business for a few years. It doesn’t work in Finland, but it does in Britain, for example. The service was advertised to the British in a promotional video published a few days ago. In it, a man orders food on Uber Eats and dances while waiting to the music, while a parrot wonders from the side.
But what? The music heard in the ad is Finnish Olavi Virtaa. “The silver moon creates a bridge to the sea…”
Virra’s (1915–1972) picture is also handsomely displayed, hanging on the wall of the apartment staged in the video. The Virta vinyl cover is also visible.
And the ad is really not aimed at Finns at all. The campaign, which includes the video, was designed by the London-based advertising agency Mother London. The issue was reported in Finland, for example Evening newspaper. You can watch the video below:
An advertisement directed by a Swede Andreas Nilsson. His CV includes plenty of music videos and commercials for big companies. Nilsson has done the first ones for Röyksopp, MGMT, The Knife, For David Guetta and to 2Chainz. Before Uber Eats, advertising clients included Volvo, Klarna and Amazon.
Where did he find out to put Silver moon for his new promotional video?
“I’m a big fan of Olavi Virra, Finnish tango and Finnish music in general,” Nilsson tells HS by email.
Nilsson lists his favorite Finnish bands as proof – and at the same time reveals himself to be a serious music digger.
His favorites are, for example, Sielun Veljet, cult rock band Circle from Pori, Electric Blue Peggy Sue and the Revolutions from Mars from Oulu in the 1980s and 90s, avant-garde electro duo Pan Sonic, Finnish-Swedish punk band Oppsprätta Schakaler and “Finnish version of Captain Beefheart”, 22-Pistepirkko .
“In my opinion, Finland is one of the best musical countries.”
Nilsson’s by Silvery Moon was his “first and only choice” for the commercial he directed. Not only does he love that song, it also had the right tempo and structure for the simple story of the ad.
He says that he wanted the video to also be a visual tribute to Virta, and that’s why they also looked for a suitable Virta portrait. The use of music and images was agreed with Virra’s estate.
What did the subscriber Uber Eats think about Virtra’s music?
“I don’t know that, but I do know that at least the creative guys at the Mother London advertising agency liked it a lot,” says Nilsson and calls Virta Suomen as Frank Sinatra.
“It feels good to spread the good news of Finnish tango, an insane musical tradition, to ears that haven’t heard it before.”
Silvery Moon is originally Italian Gualtiero Malgoni a composition from 1959, entitled Guarda che Luna. Reino Helismaa translated it into Finnish, and Olavi Virta recorded it in 1960.
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