Ferrari World Abu Dhabi

Ferrari World Abu Dhabi is the world’s first Ferrari branded theme park, on Yas Island, and the home of Formula Rossa, the fastest roller coaster on earth. In 2013 the park and Impact BBDO built a campaign on one idea: you never know who the real champion in your family is until you reach the finish line. The film puts a father and daughter in the front row of Formula Rossa and lets the ride decide. Chris and Joe were asked to give it a score and a soundtrack of its own.

A roller coaster commercial lives or dies on its sound. This one had to feel like 0 to 240 in under five seconds, carry a family story at the same time, and land on a brand line, “Find your drive”, with room to breathe. Ferrari’s own engines were the obvious reference and the obvious trap: Formula Rossa is launched by hydraulics, not a V12, and the spot is about the two people in the seats, not the car.

We scored the people, not the ride. The music is one continuous build that locks to the cut: a held breath on the platform, the launch, the climb, then a pull back at the top so the screams and the laughter carry the picture before the voiceover lands. The sound design gives the coaster the character of a Ferrari without pretending to be one: launch, wind, harness and track, and the crowd on the platform, mixed so the father and daughter always sit on top. Music and sound were written together, to the picture, as one piece.

The spot launched in March 2013 and the park’s official upload has since passed 185,000 views on YouTube. More than a decade on it still shows the approach Chris and Joe brought to WithFeeling: put the music and the sound exactly where the picture needs them, and let a thirty second film feel like a ride.