Take the ever-increasing and seemingly boundless power of technology and add to that limitless creativity and imagination. Mix in vast amounts of technical expertise and an indefinable sixth sense for what will elicit the desired response in an audience.

The final product is Harvest Creative Services (previously known as Harvest Music + Sound Design), which has, for 28 years, been making music, literally and figuratively.

With clients ranging from the huge (Ford Motor Company; General Motors; Meijer; Detroit Free Press and Detroit News; Herman Miller; and Nike, just to name a few) to the not-so-huge (Kentucky Farm Bureau, Hibernia Bank and Baptist Hospital East and local entities like LAFCU and LEAP, Inc. among many others), Harvest Creative Services has what it takes to combine media and message—and communicate clients’ ideas to their target audiences.

Steve Curran and Mark Miller founded the company in the early ‘80s, starting out in music production and artist development. Over the years, the company has changed and evolved to become a complete creative services operation, often (but not always) working on marketing and advertising.

Says Curran, “Sometimes we work directly with our clients, as we are now with Meijer, and sometimes we work with advertising firms like J. Walter Thompson and some of the major agencies in the Detroit area and throughout the country. We can do all or part of a company’s advertising. For instance, we are working with the Detroit Free Press and Detroit News on a whole new campaign, and we’re doing it all—concepts, writing, producing, Web content, music for television and radio. Other times, we might just write the music for a specific ad or do the sound mixing for a film or commercial. We can give you the whole pie or a piece of the pie.”

Their website features examples of the kinds of work they have done. In addition to their work with advertising campaigns, they venture into other areas—like writing a song for Ford Motor Company as part of Ford’s sponsorship of American Idol. Currently, they are working to develop a song for the 2012 Olympics. And their resident songwriter, Julie Magsig, recently wrote a song about Michigan, which debuted to positive response.

It’s worth noting that almost all of the work they have done is available online. While streaming media may seem fairly new, Miller says, “We’ve been making all of our content accessible online for quite some time. Our clients need to have their messages available on all fronts, not just limited to one outlet.”

Harvest also works on sound tracks for television, film and live events. A long-term relationship with actor Jeff Daniels has led them to work in Los Angeles and Hollywood, and they have worked with him on several movies as well as other projects, including a CD of a live performance. They maintain a relationship with Daniels as well as with such major Hollywood insiders as Bruce Campbell and Sam Raimi.

Curran says, “We also act as music brokers for songs. If you notice, a lot of ads now on TV and radio use popular songs; think of “Like a Rock” which was part of Chevrolet’s ads for a long time. We offer songs to use for various projects. We’ve just sent out a mailer to 3,000 agencies directing them to a website with downloadable music to demonstrate what we have available. As an adjunct to this, we have created several CDs for Meijer to sell in their stores as part of special promotions.” Information about this facet of Harvest’s business can be accessed at www.harvestmusicsupervision.com where you can download music at no cost.

According to industry consultant Kevin Gillespie, “There’s been a grass roots movement to get Harvest to do more. They have a loyal customer base and their customers’ confidence has encouraged Harvest to keep expanding into new areas. Customers come to Harvest for solutions, and Harvest delivers.”

Gillespie has been working with Harvest for the past few months as they have worked to expand their relationships with ad agencies and marketing teams throughout the country beyond their current reach. Harvest knows that being instantly responsive to clients’ needs is essential.

Curran adds, “We’ve gotten to the point where everyone on our staff can change direction hourly and on demand.”

And, according to Miller, “We have a group of very talented people, and we are continuing to flourish. Last year, we grew over 20 percent, and the growth was all in new areas of endeavor.”

A few years back, Curran, Miller and their team were considering a move to Royal Oak, just outside Detroit, to place them geographically closer to many of the agencies with whom they work. Says Curran, “We had outgrown our facility and were having a hard time finding a new place that suited us. But Mayor Bernero and the City of Lansing offered us incentives and encouraged us to stay here. We eventually found our present facility, which had been the Michigan headquarters for the PTA. We renovated and refurbished it to suit our purposes, and it has been a good move for us. We wanted to be in Old Town; the energy and creativity here is wonderful.”

Harvest Creative Services certainly adds to that spirit; “creative” is not only their name, it’s their nature. 

Author: Jane Whittington.