Before
A wonderful company called SageGlass has a retirement plan through their parent company, Saint-Gobain, but they felt it was often overlooked; that some employees didn’t know all the details. They wanted something fun, yet informative, and they had heard about how I once wrote a rap song for a medical device, so what better way to get your team in-the-know than by filming a music video?
They provided loads of information about their program, and a few reference songs they wanted to parody. I spent several hours researching the program and highlighting all of the top-priority keywords, then went searching for a royalty free beat.
Lyrics
To properly get the information across, I needed a structure. You can’t just spew out information in random order, you need to scaffold. Build it up over time. The Verse-Chorus-Verse-Chorus-Bridge-Chorus format works well enough—it’s familiar, and to the point—but in order to start writing a song, you need to know what you’re going to say.
- Verse 1: We have a retirement plan, and it’s easy
- Chorus 1: Retirement plans result in more money for fun
- Verse 2: More specific details about eligibility and how it works
- Chorus 2: Retirement plans result in more money for fun
- Bridge: This is good for you, and you should sign up
- Chorus 3: Retirement plans result in more money for fun
I took the highlighted keywords and arranged them into their proper sections. I brainstormed a few stereotypical retirement ideas like golfing, and RVs, and tried to inject some light comedy into the song. The result was the following:
It all starts on the day That you join the team Saint-Gobain presents R-A-P It's a retirement plan That's built just for you As a way to tell you thanks For all the things that you do You don't spend a dime You just do your time Incubate the nest egg And you'll be fine Work for now Save for later You start with nothing Yet you end up greater So plan out your adventures No worry 'bout indentures Stock up on your chemicals For soaking up your dentures You know what I'm sayin'? 'Cause it all adds up When you retire The benefits you've earned will be paid out There's nothing to worry about When you retire You'll cash out monthly if you just want some Or take the whole lump sum When you retire Anyone over 21 And you don't even need to apply (Say what!?) You just gotta work here For 3 short years Or you gotta turn 65 It's what we call "vesting" It's how we invest in Our very very best Employees east-to-west and Even if you leave the company When you return You'll be re-vested instantly Gonna get a good percentage of your pay Keep your 401(k) Add a little bit of interest Just for golfing every day And you know: Now you're set for life When you retire You'll have enough for living so carefree Go buy that new R.V. When you retire You'll travel 'round the world if you want to No one to respond to When you retire I'm not gonna lie: It'll help you get by You'll be able to relax Until the day that you die Take this little advice I'll try to make it concise: Do the R-A-P You'll get to paradise When you retire Your time at Saint-Gobain was so worth it You know you deserve it When you retire You'll thank yourself for choosing R-A-P It pays and it's all free When you retire
I don’t know that I’ve ever been this proud of a set of lyrics.
During
After a brilliant production remix and vocals by my friend Chris Caesar, it was time to film. SageGlass picked three employees to be the stars: an engineer, a maintenance tech, and the VP of Administration. Along with our equipment, my team brought one hundred single dollar bills, an RV keychain, some fake money bags, and a few Party City dollar sign props to make it really over the top.
We cranked the song at full volume, and had our stars lip sync to it in several different locations throughout Sage’s gigantic warehouse in Faribault, MN. The shooting took about half a day, and the song was stuck in all of our heads from that point on.
My favorite part? We managed to capture the CEO, Alan McLenaghan, bobbing his head to the beat with his feet on his desk. Though his cameo goes unnoticed by anyone from outside the company, everyone within the company got a good kick out of his participation.
After
3 years later, and this is SageGlass’ 8th most viewed video on YouTube (out of 194), with nearly 6 thousand views. It’s not advertised in as many places as their other videos, because it’s primarily meant to inform employees, but its legacy lives on!
This is one of my proudest creations. I’ve done a number of collaborations with SageGlass, but this one stands out as my favorite piece. I am so glad I got to help them bring it all together.