We make a lot of music for projects involving new product launches and tech startups — always exciting. Sometimes it’s equally rewarding to work with a brand that’s been around just that little bit longer. The Fairy washing up liquid name has been a fixture of British kitchens since 1950, but the iconic baby logo (nicknamed ‘Bizzy’) has been around even longer - first seen in 1930 on Fairy soap.  This music brief involved Bizzy meeting a new friend, very much from 2018…

Our friends at Publicis had developed a new national campaign for Fairy Platinum dishwasher tablets. The film introduced a new and very modern character, 'Tough Baby’, enlisted to help Bizzy deal with the 2018 problem of burned-on and baked-on food in the dishwasher. He arrives on a motorbike, complete with mohican, tattoos and sunglasses and ready to get to work.

Our job was to capture his personality in a track; attitude, swagger, confidence, a hint of cheek. We picked up the guitars, fired up the amps and tried a number of development routes that ranged from vintage rock through indie and punk. But one favourite stood out for us, the agency and the P&G client: a big swaggering guitar riff just on the edge of feedback, combined with rhythm guitars, picked bass and drums to deliver a stomping tune somewhere between Jack White and The Black Keys.

Working alongside Tough Baby’s Winstone-ish voiceover it gives Fairy a new sound for 2018. Fairy Tough Baby is on air now across UK & Irish terrestrial and satellite TV and digital media. “No more Mr Nice Baby…”