Sonic branding company Stephen Arnold Music was called in to help Nexstar’s KTLA Los Angeles mark its 75th anniversary with a specially composed anthem that supports the station’s branding campaign that features the city’s people and spirit as well as KTLA’s talent – both in front of and behind the camera.

Conceived by KTLA’s in-house creative department, the campaign’s hero spot melds sunny lifestyle vignettes with iconic Los Angeles cinematography, such as the freeways, the beach and the Hollywood sign. The song intentionally evokes the city’s “golden sunshine and Pacific stars” and ends with the optimistic refrain, “For years we’ve been together, and the best is yet to come. We’re LA’s Very Own.”

KTLA Creative’s team includes Sr. Director of Creative Service Scott Altus, Special Projects Producer Kenneth Johnson, Sr. Writer/Producer Bobby Mathews and Editor Daniel Navarrete.

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“Our community is incredibly large and diverse,” said Altus, in a statement. “We’ve been a part of this city for a long time, we are very proud of it and we’re just getting started. We wanted to communicate that through the visuals and the song.”

Altus added that the key to the campaign is its authenticity, noting that most of the visuals are not staged, but reflect real people and real events.

“The creative team from Stephen Arnold Music understood immediately what we were looking for and produced a song that connects emotionally and is very melodic and memorable,” Atus said.

“Few stations are as beloved as KTLA is in California,” said Stephen Arnold Music Creative Director Chad Cook, also in a statement. “People have a true sense of endearment for the station, and we wanted to honor that through the tone of the song. It’s quite a bit more intimate than is typical in an image piece.”

Led by the guitar and vocal, the orchestration is spare. “It’s not a heavily produced piece,” said Cook. “The song called for a sparse, acoustic style, but it hits all the emotional checkpoints.”

The song will be used in branding spots of varying length throughout KTLA’s 75th year on the air.

Tags: ktla nexstar stephen arnold music


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