case study #1: spyder footwear
CUSTOM CONTENT TRIP
Finding snow in the smack dab of summer: Mt. Hood Custom Content Trip for Spyder Footwear.
TLDR: Curating a custom trip for Spyder Footwear for their FW’22 campaign in the stunning landscapes Mt. Hood Oregon. Through the mountaintops, a cozy cabin Airbnb, an adorable St. Berniese we rented (!!) and side-of-the-road breathtaking scenery, we created a dynamic, diverse array of scenes. This four-day shoot was tailored exclusively for their FW campain, designed for their outdoor-focused audience across web, email campaigns, paid and organic social.
Read below about learn I work with my clients: from shot list to model scouting to moodboard to 4x4 rides up a mountain.
Spyder reached out to me in hopes to shoot content for their FW’22 line — they wanted active, snow, adventure, all encompassing a clean look that reflects Spyder’s reputation of a solid, sustainable activewear brand.
On our initial call, we needed to iron out one small kink: where in the world would we shoot a winter shoot, within budget, in September?
Through quite a bit of googling, researching over and over, we landed on: Mt. Hood, Oregon. The place where there is snow even in the summer, easily accessible and not as remote of many of the other mountainous areas.
Next step? Plan the shoot. My assistant, Leslie, stepped in and fully led the model scouting throughout the entirety of the project. She is client-facing, directly asking for the client needs and how they want their brand to be represented. The closest model pool was in Reno, NV so my assistant went searching. Model questionnaires look a little like this:
Meanwhile, I begin the location scouting. Through blogs, recommendations from others, Google Earth, and lots of other creative sites I create the the draft of our trip itinerary. On Custom Trips, we usually book an Airbnb with permission to have a commerical shoot and use that for our location and lodging.
The perfect Airbnb was found — this would allow a backdrop to strengthen and elevate the brand messaging of being an adventure-based outdoor company.
This is where the production really gets going and all the backend creative boxes are checked so we are ready to shoot. I share a creative whiteboard with my client through Milanote, where we can both contribute to the board, add photos, comments, and move elements around.
Here, we have: moodboard, product list, models choices, flight and car details, shot list, any briefs, location imagery, maps where we are meeting or shooting, and where we also communicate any ideas or needs that pop up. This is the oil of the machine, where the real magic happens so the entire team is ultra-clear about the vision and eliminates most of the guesswork when it’s go time.
Once we have the overarching theme down and I nail down the brand ethos, have the product list at my fingertips, and set our models, I create the extensive shot list through Airtable. This is again, collaborative with my client in case adjustments need to be made. I give room for creative freedom, but in this shot list we have everything we need — which model is shooting which product, where it will be shot, what time of day, props needed, orientation of the photos, and what the visual storytelling element is.
And within the process, as we can always predict… we ran into a roadblock. It’s interesting.. a lot of folks aren’t really sure what encompasses being a producer but it’s really quite simple: it’s just being a problem solver. Every shoot, no matter how big or small, I have grown accustom that certain elements will not go our way. And it’s my job to find creative solutions. It will always work out; it always does.
Our kink here? In my search of places to find snow, I wanted to make sure there was actual patches around the Mt. Hood area, instead of relying solely blogs around the internet. I called park rangers and tourism boards in the area and got the same message over and over: “Oh honey! There’s no snow because of climate change. Maybe on the top of the mountain but that’s a 2 mile trek.” Ummm… Not an option. I search high and low, called helicopter companies, called folks who control the ski lifts, on and on and no one seemed to be able to get me to snow.
I finally got on the phone with the Ski Area Sales Manager & Photo Shoots Manager at Timberline Lodge at the base of Mt. Hood. We figured out a plan to have a 4x4 drive our team literally UP the mountain. Literally. Straight up the mountain. And I think where we landed was pretty beautiful….
And as for snow in other places? My assistant joked, “It’s like you should get a snow machine”. DONE.
With everything in place, models booked, itinerary locked in, we had an insanely beautiful shoot that fulfilled their need for adventure-focused visual storytelling to captivate their audience in a multitude of campaigns through FW’22.
