Love Song hones its high craft as it makes a splash in Europe

Love Song and director Elliott Power were ready for any and all difficulties as they drove into the imposing wilderness of Norway last year to shoot a Beats by Dre spot—a whimsical :60 that imagined star footballer Erling Haaland engaging in primitive training rituals there. What they weren’t expecting was a Haaland body double who was almost too good to be true—performing all of the challenging stunts with ease. See all of Ad Age’s 2025 Agency A-List winners here “Erling couldn’t do much [because of contract restictions], but his double was amazing,” said Kelly Bayett, co-founder of Love Song. “In this very magical way, he ended up being someone who would split wood with his grandma and grandpa and was really good at axe throwing. He kept asking us if we could get him on the show ‘Vikings.’” “Those are my favorite things in production, when you get these little surprises,” Bayett said. “You think it’s going to be a challenge, and then you get an ax-throwing expert who can cut wood all day with one hand and make it seem like butter.” The experience on the Beats spot, produced for London agency Uncommon, was emblematic of Love Song’s charmed entry into Europe last year. The U.S.-founded company, launched three years ago by Bayett and director Daniel Wolfe, opened a U.K. office last January, led by Shirley O’Connor, and enjoyed immediate success—it’s already outpacing Love Song U.S. in terms of revenue, Bayett said. Love Song’s very first shoot out of its U.K. office was director Camille Summers-Valli’s delightful four-part series “Unlock Your Courage” for Coach’s Fall ’24 campaign out of APE Creative Club. The 30-second spots required choreography, wire work, special effects and puppeteering—a tall order on what was a single day of shooting for most of the spots. Another triumph was Daniel Wolfe and Louis McCourt’s “Clock Off” spot for EE out of Saatchi & Saatchi U.K., a visually stunning journey that followed its characters from their gray, mechanical workday to a vibrant, colorful world at home. In the U.S., Wolfe directed “Lululemon Lounge,” starring NFL players DK Metcalf and Odell Beckham Jr., which leaned into the culture of self-care, even for world-class athletes. A similarly low-key New Balance project with agency American Haiku, directed by Power, artfully told seven stories over seven minutes about the brand’s historical influence on culture. “Lululemon and New Balance are both done in a different way,” said Bayett. “Sports tends to be loud and aggressive, and either super quirky and funny or really fast-paced. What was nice about these is they took a breath in this lifestyle place. Normally you would push performance; in this case, they were pushing quiet. I really liked that.” Other notable Love Song spots in 2024 included Justyna Obasi’s “Big Sister” for Instacart, direct to client; Walid Labri’s “The World’s Biggest Coffee Lover” for Coffee mate out of Wieden+Kennedy New York; Will Dohrn’s “Keep Commerce Human” for Etsy out of Orchard; and Saman Aminzadeh’s “The Shirt” for EE out of Saatchi London. Beyond advertising, Joe Weiland of the Weiland Brothers received a BAFTA nomination for his short film “Gorka.” Also, his short film “Marion” was selected for both the Venice Film Festival and Telluride Film Festival, attracting the attention of Cate Blanchett, who came on board as an executive producer. As Love Song evolves, Bayett has seen a mentorship culture take root among its directors. This began with Wolfe but has since expanded to some of his protégés. See all of Ad Age’s 2025 Agency A-List winners here “It’s a pay-it-forward culture that Daniel started,” she said. “He mentored some of the directors, helped them find their own voice and who they are. Now we’re seeing them do the same. Will Dohrn did that with Ja’Lisa Arnold on her music video. Elliott did that with Saman [Aminzadeh] on JD Sports. You’re seeing these directors, who don’t get anything out of it financially, kind of keeping the culture of the company going without Daniel or I asking them to.” Part of keeping that culture strong is limiting the size—Love Song has only just over a dozen directors, which is by design. “We never want to have a huge roster,” said Bayett. “We feel fortunate that we’re on this list, and that we won Production Company of the Year at the Arrows last year. We have only five or six working directors who are getting points for those awards. It’s like everything we do is a banger. That’s pretty awesome.”

Love Song hones its high craft as it makes a splash in Europe

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