It’s 2:54 a.m. in an empty grocery store and an Australian shepherd is riding a segway down the canned food aisle.
A lot more went into this shot than you might realize when you first see it. Sure, the concept was simple.
“Demonstrate how aggressive driving, whether in your car or behind a shopping cart isn’t worth it.”
The production was anything but.
Because we needed empty aisles, that meant a night shoot… and then came the process of securing a store that would allow us to shoot from sunset to sunrise. Props, storyboards and talent came together and pre-production was set…except for the fact that we had to hide every brand label from the camera’s perspective.
Queue a team of five people meticulously rotating every can on the shelf to hide the labels (look for this the next time you watch a commercial).
We get the dog on the segway, start filming and an hour later it’s over. All for a 2-second clip out of our 30-second spot.
Why??Because that’s the two seconds that everyone will remember.
Sure, it would have been easier to look at all of the hurdles to get this one clip filmed and remove it from the spot, but that’s the difference between an ad and an ad that sticks.
In our world, wild and tedious ideas often make the most impact. Plus, seeing a dog ride a segway down a grocery aisle was worth a few sleepless nights.
Having clients and partners that run along with the wild idea helps. Big thanks to Montana Department of Transportation for the trust and Genuine for becoming nightwalkers to make it happen with us.