Capturing the Basketball Buzz without the Madness: Our Sonic Adventure with COOP Ale Works
Product Photography: Sonic Hard Seltzer
As March descends, the air vibrates with the unspoken exhilaration of basketball season. In collaboration with COOP Ale Works for Sonic Hard Seltzer, The House Creates embarked on a sportstacular photography project where our challenge was to capture the basketball madness in March WITHOUT mentioning, saying, or using heave imagery related to the trademarked NCAA “March Madness” phrase and brand. For obviou$ rea$on$.
The Road To Play-Offs:
Our goal was to create and capture a 9-photo grid for Sonic Hard Seltzer’s Instagram, with each frame resonating with the thrilling pulse of basketball and emphasizing the refreshing “team captains,” Cherry Limeade and Ocean Water.
We had to be cautious of “pitting” the flavors against each other. Instead, we wanted to highlight them both as the team captains of their respective variety packs. If anything, we were working with the Flavorful East All-Stars and the Delicious West All-Stars.
Pre-Production
The pre-production phase was spent concepting some of everyone’s dream shots and how they achieve our end goals and then conforming them into a cohesive 9-photo series and grid. Envisioning a victory ceremony, Cherry Limeade and Ocean Water were cast as the leading teams, the flavors gloriously held high like prized medals, inspired by the competitive brackets of March Madness.
Set Design
The transition from vision to reality unfolded in a carefully orchestrated set design. A vibrant tableau, brimming with customized props wrapped in vibrant colored paper against our Savage brand Primary Blue and Primary Red rolls of photo paper. We paired all this flat color with 3D objects like mini basketballs, limes, and confetti and set the stage for our seltzer champions, creating the energy of a classic national championship basketball celebration.
Production
We grabbed our studio equipment and made our way to the COOP Ale Works offices in Downtown Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. We rolled out our papers, laid out our props, prepared our “talent,” and began to capture. One of the tools/software we use regularly is a tether cable into our computer with Capture One and Capture One Live. Capture One Live helps us review photos instantly for things like composition and focus. More importantly, it creates a cloud gallery and a shareable link so the client and collaborates can see the session in real-time and help rate the photos as they come in or provide feedback throughout the shoot, so we’re always capturing exactly what we need!
Post Production
In post-production, COOP Ale Works selected their final picks from our shared gallery, we began to edit them for color and crop, and then we collaborated with Plight (@plight.art) to photoshop the images to perfection. Plight was able to remove things like wrinkles in our props, add in a lime from a missed spot, rework the can art for greater visibility, and all around make the color more cohesive and mastered.
Recap
The collaboration with COOP Ale Works and Sonic Hard Seltzer was one of our favorite studio product photography shoots. It was a fun and lively concept and it really captures a season of life and helped align the brand with its audience.
So what are you waiting for? Suit up, grab a Sonic Hard Seltzer, and enjoy championship-worthy flavors! Please drink responsibly.
Credits:
Creative Director: Chris Cox
Photography: Ian Weston
Styling: Kadie Weston
Photo Editing: Plight Studio,
Additional Editing: Ian Weston & Chris Cox
This was a half-day commercial photoshoot in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. We captured studio photography on-site with our photography paper, props, and food styling kit.
If you’d like to work with The House Creates on your creative concept, campaign, photography, videography, or live production and events please contact us at the form in our footer.
Article by: Chris Cox
Edited by: Stephen Brown
