In celebration of it’s 100th year of operations, Delta Airlines has embarked on a major centennial campaign that pays tribute to a century of innovation, resilience, and human connection. At the center of this campaign is their new commercial video “Legends Are Made Here”, that captures the evolution of flight through the decades.
Music plays a central role within the entire campaign, which Delta notes as their “centennial anthem”, which serves as the emotional thread that unites the brand’s century-long journey—using evolving rhythms, instruments, and production techniques to mirror the spirit “that’s illuminated our path”.
The music was also featured at the Delta Airlines’ Centennial Gala event on March 15, 2025, where a special centennial livery plane was revealed in a custom production.
The Music: Decades in Sound
The commercial goes beyond mere corporate promotion: it becomes a mini-documentary of sound and image. For a brand celebrating a century of flight, the sonic dimension is crucial — travel is not just seen, it is heard and felt.
To reflect each era of Delta Airlines’ history, the composition and engineering of the score employ stylistic and instrumental cues that guide the listener through the narrative. Consider these broad strokes:
- Beginning: The score opens with a subtle organ, establishing a sense of ceremony and new beginnings, evoking the excitement of the airline’s legacy and centennial celebration.
- Middle: A solo cello carries the main melody, lending intimacy and emotional depth to the production. This section highlights the personal, human aspect of flight and the journey through time.
- End: Brass instruments emerge, building to a triumphant climax that represents the power, scale, and prestige of Delta Airlines today. The full orchestration conveys strength and celebration, mirroring the visual reveal of the centennial livery plane.
By aligning instrumental choices and orchestration with the visual narrative of the flight through time, the composition allows the audience to experience a journey through Delta’s history — from intimate beginnings to modern grandeur.
The Sound Engineer Behind the Campaign
At the center of this campaign is the music team, in particular, Hans Zimmer, Andrew Christie and sound engineer Shaked Shachar, whose work has been instrumental to creating the impactful narrative we see throughout the video. The commercial’s ability to transport audiences across decades relies not only on visual storytelling but on the precision and depth of its sound design, an area in which Shachar’s expertise has had a profound impact.
Shaked Shachar is a Los Angeles-based composer, arranger, and pianist who has developed a notable presence in this field working alongside major players in the industry. With classical piano training in Israel and advanced film scoring studies at Berklee College of Music, Shachar brings a rare blend of musical sensitivity and technical mastery to his projects. This combination allows him to navigate the delicate balance between emotional resonance and sonic authenticity, an essential skill for a campaign that traverses multiple eras of musical evolution.
His broader portfolio reflects the depth of his experience and versatility. Shachar has contributed to a range of high-profile projects, including collaborations with Bleeding Fingers Music, the scoring collective co-founded by Academy Award–winning composer Hans Zimmer. His credits include work on Extreme Music Library releases, the documentary film Why We Dream, and television projects such as Secrets of Our Universe with Tim Peake and Holy Marvels with Dennis Quaid. He has also been involved in the unreleased documentary Lewis and supported orchestral recording sessions at Synchron Stage Vienna, one of the most prestigious film scoring studios in the world.
Shachar’s contributions to the Delta campaign illustrates how technical sound mixing and engineering can serve as a narrative device rather than a mere technical layer. His nuanced approach enables the audience to feel time passing through subtle shifts in timbre, instrumentation, and production style. Each sonic transition carries historical fidelity while maintaining the commercial’s cohesive tone, highlighting Shachar’s ability to merge storytelling and engineering into a unified emotional experience.
All in all, Delta’s centennial commercial is more than a retrospective, it is a celebration rendered in sight and sound. The music and sound-engineering aren’t afterthoughts; they are central to the story. They allow each decade to be felt and each transition to reflect technological and cultural change. For any sound engineer, composer or brand-storyteller, this commercial offers a case study in how layered auditory design can deepen the impact of a corporate narrative.
