In 2014 former Wieden + Kennedy employee Oscar Powell left behind a life in planning and strategy in exchange for disruptive, anarchic music making. In two short years, he started a radio show (Melon Magic on NTS), broke the internet with a billboard (pissing off half the music industry in the process) and was picked up by XL Recordings (yes, the home of Adele).

Powell approached The Kennedys – Our W+K London, ‘creative incubator team’ with the brief of creating a promo for forthcoming single Jonny [feat. Jonny’], and to make ‘Sport’ one of the most talked about records of 2016.

Oscar was fond of melons [his radio show #melonmagic is a dead give away].

So The Kennedys wanted to explore people’s relationships with the captivating fruit.

Upon their exploration they stumbled across Tafzi Ahmed, a record breaking Melon smasher. After seeing a Youtube video of Ahmed go through the melons like an angry fruit bulldozer, The Kennedys instantly knew, they had a hook for the video and Ahmed was their man. A video quickly surfaced of Kennedy Rachael driving her head through the fruit! The reactions to her attempt were priceless (especially her mother’s). It soon became apparent anyone brave (and stupid) enough to do it, could.

So Oscar used the billboard again, only this time, the only information on the board was his email address. Oscar then invited anyone who got in touch to submit their own melon smashing videos to be a part of his music video.

The final film is a montage of all submitted melon smashing attempts and some from the professional Ahmed, interlaced with Powell’s recent North America tour footage –  giving the viewer a real insight into life on the road with Oscar.

Sit back, press play and enjoy the show.