Write a short summary of what happens in the film.

With the streets of New York’s Broadway unfortunately empty this year, the idea takes inspiration from the theatres and music halls of the big city and features a Broadway-style song using the cheeky namesake ‘2021 Might Not Suck’. In a personal first for both entertainers, Anderson Cooper (CNN Anchor) and Andy Cohen (Comedian) undertake the vocals for this song, bringing a comedic script to life with their own all singing, all dancing performance (complete with supporting roles from performing nurses, singing garbage men and even a mascot vaccine!). The campaign is executed bombastically, with a musical centrepiece that upheld the idea and supports a rousing chorus of everyday Americans.

Cultural / Context information for the jury

‘2021 Might Not Suck’ is a sentiment shared by many across the world, as the events of the Covid-19 pandemic continue to shake the global climate. This year, the ‘stay at home’ orders across New York state forced CNN’s annual New Year’s Eve countdown from Times Square to be a more virtual affair, giving CNN the opportunity to look at ingenious ways to capture their audience’s festive spirit for an end-of-year bacchanal, with music and song at the forefront of this promotional campaign.

Tell the jury about the creation of the original music track.

In a truly global collaboration, we worked closely with our arranger in Toronto, Todd Hayen, whose orchestral arrangement of Nick Wood’s original composition was recorded in a socially distanced session in Tokyo. With Anderson Cooper & Andy Cohen’s vocal performance so essential to the success of this track, a vocal director in New York assisted with their delivery, encouraging their own comedic timing and excellent delivery, whilst providing technical support and vocal direction. Additional production was recorded at our studio in central Tokyo, with support across three continents to produce this large-scale piece in a relatively short turnaround time.