This is as much a love story as it is a look at our first production with the iconic Swedish lifestyle brand Fjällräven.
How We Met:
We pulled off a small miracle on our shoot with Goldbug (see how we orchestrated 8 babies under 6mos to help a brand launch DTC without a hitch) and, in doing so, gained the attention and respect of their outside marketing consultant.
At the end of every production, we send out a request for reviews and referrals. We like to get feedback and we don’t like to have to promote ourselves too hard. This helps with both.
Upon receiving our request, Amanda (aforementioned marketing consultant) sent us an email intro’ing us to the marketing team at Fjällräven. They were having some trouble with in-studio product photography and asked if we could help.
Most of their marketing materials are adventure-seeking lifestyle pieces of content and their soirees into studio shoots didn’t pan out. But as the brand continues to expand in the Americas, they knew they needed content that reflects what customers are engaging with at the top of the funnel - fun, punchy, eye-catching content that tells a story within a split second.
We were excited for the challenge.
Scope of Work:
Fjällräven was prepping for a back-to-school campaign for their backpacks and needed digital assets that were going to be engaging at the top of the funnel.
There were 4 backpacks in 3 colorways each, totaling in 12 products.
Each product needed a solo hero shot, a gridded flatlay, an environmental hero shot, and an assortment of USPs (unique selling points).
We had 3 days to get everything done and a $70k budget.
Production Process:
We are nothing if not engineers working to take abstract ideas and turning them into quantifiable deliverables. That means early prep meetings with the creative and styling team to determine how long each unique setup was going to take. 45 minutes for large-format gridded flatlays. 90 minutes for environmental heroes. Additional 15 minutes for dolly shots…
After we had a rough idea of timing for each type of shot, we moved into an overall wireframe of the 3 days. Day 1 was going to be the big flatlays with lots of props. Day 2 was set for custom environmental builds. The 3rd day would allow for solo product heroes and USPs. We based this on the number of setups we would need to change, energy at the beginning of a shoot vs the end, and the total number of unique deliverables needed within each setup.
Because this was going to be campaign work (and potentially live inside retail stores in lightboxes) we worked with a high-end photo retouching agency that works with brands like Nike, Amazon, Vans, and Dove. We had them perform test edits in advance of the shoot and get client approval for the overall direction of the post workflow. This was especially important because it provided key information for our crew to properly light and style each setup.
The Setups:
DAY 1
We wanted these images to be soothing and exciting at the same time. Something that would force an audience to stop and take a closer look.
After we grabbed the top-down shot for each hero color, we moved into a 45-degree angle. This only took an additional 15 minutes and allowed us to provide more unique assets to the client so they could A/B test them in their ad campaigns and help give us information for future work. This is not something a lot of agencies will look to include but we believe in being wildly organized and providing as much value as we can. Internally we say, “If we can, we will.”
DAY 2
This was probably everyone’s favorite. Amy's custom-built sets blew us away. All of these elements were hauled from little boxes and rolls in her car and then transformed into 4’x4’ mini wonderlands.
One of the big things Amanda was concerned about was having a studio shoot that didn’t feel like Sweden at all. The bridge between Europe and the Americas was still being built, and we didn’t want to fly across without considering their global aesthetic. We decided that incorporating printed imagery from another one of their Swedish campaigns as the background was a great throughline and tip of the cap to our friends across the Atlantic.
DAY 3
Day 1 and 2 would’ve been enough to complete 99% of all top-of-funnel digital ad campaigns but we wanted to make sure everyone on the marketing team was getting what they needed. We learned on the calls that they were particularly challenged with their PDPs (product description pages) and needed more assets highlighting the key features of each product (enter, USP day).
We were able to call out 3 USPs for each pack line and shoot some solo product shots with some props from day 1 to tie the whole campaign together.
The Conclusion:
Amanda stuck her neck out to work with us because she was so happy with our level of detail and organization. No one else from the organization had any plans of changing up their studio photography needs. She trusted us and we wanted to deliver everything and more.
In the end, the assets that were only meant for a North American digital campaign will now be featured as large in-store prints on all the front tables of Fjällräven storefronts. We’re told that we might also see them popping up in REI’s worldwide. And their global team is looking to incorporate them into their digital funnel.
Not to mention, we booked 2 more shoots with them in the next 3 months.
Remember when we said this was a love story?
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