Peter Mildrew initially thought the email in his inbox offering up to $75,000 was a scam.
As the then-president of the Hullabahoos, an all-male a cappella group at the University of Virginia, he was used to fielding gig requests paying far less. When a publicist working for Reser’s Fine Foods, a ready-made food company, reached out about a jingle-writing contest for college a cappella groups, Mildrew was skeptical.
But $25,000 in prize money for first place, plus $20,000 to cover travel expenses for a performance in Oregon, was too good for the Hullabahoos not to enter. Even the second-, third- and fourth-place prizes ($15,000, $10,000 and $5,000, respectively) were nothing to sneeze at.
“I was like, ‘This is real. This is something that we have to do,’” Mildrew, a rising fourth-year student, recalled.
It was a good call. In June, the Hullabahoos took first place in Reser’s jingle contest, earning prize money they plan to put toward concerts and recording projects.
Finishing before finals
Once he realized the contest was legit, Mildrew texted other members of the group’s executive board, including former president and Class of 2025 graduate Nick Chu. There was almost unanimous agreement: They needed to start working on an entry almost immediately.
Rising third-year student Teddy Price teamed up with Chu to write the jingle. They met in Chu’s Lawn room and started brainstorming ideas as Chu plunked out a melody on his keyboard.
“It was this really fun, kind of goofy-sounding thing that just stuck,” Price said. “We just started listing a bunch of food, and it came together pretty quickly.”
Price worked with his fellow Hullabahoo, Carson Barnes, to translate the song from keys to an a cappella arrangement.
Reser’s Jingle video transcript
[Hullabahoos singing]
If your party needs a hand, give a yell to Reser’s
If you’re in a jam, call your friends at Reser’s
Parties, tailgates with your fam, it’s all easy at Reser’s
Pick up your Reser’s today!
They got salads, potatoes, mac and cheese and dips and coleslaw,
Hashbrowns, burritos, and fruit and corn and spinach
Just pick it up and put it out your life’s a breeze with Reser’s
We’re a family, we know shopping should be easy
If your party needs a hand, give a yell to Reser’s
If you’re in a jam, call your friends at Reser’s
Parties, tailgates with your fam, it’s all easy at Reser’s
Pick up your Reser’s today!
It was lucky their draft came together so quickly. The contest deadline was in the middle of final exams.
“We couldn’t flake off on it,” said Nick Scheper, the current Hullabahoos president and a rising third-year student in the School of Architecture. “We’re really lucky we were able to refine it.”
In the studio
Once the jingle was finalized, the Hullabahoos stepped into the studio at Charlottesville’s Music Resource Center to record it. The other winning entries recorded videos of live performances of their songs.
“Performing live and recording in the studio are two different ballgames, but because we had read through the stipulations and the criteria, we knew Reser’s wanted something that was polished and fine-tuned to the point where they could use it for their brand,” Mildrew said.
The Hullabahoos contacted former University Communications video producer Julia Weaver, who previously produced a music video for the group, for help with the video. She assisted with the opening shot, which they got in two takes. From there, the group flew solo. They only roughly choreographed the rest of their video.
“Somehow, some way, we locked in. When we sing ‘easy,’ it somehow looked very symmetrical and planned the way we all pointed,” Mildrew said.
