randal ford and charles barkley for capital one
During March Madness, Capital One released a television commercial directed by Spike Lee featuring Samuel L. Jackson and Charles Barkley in his “snack hoodie.” To coincide with the TV ad, they asked Randal Ford to create an ad for a three week run on Snapchat.
“I’m doing more and more shoots where the media buy is exclusively online or exclusively social media,” said Randal. “From an advertiser’s perspective, it’s a way to reach a highly targeted audience, in this case, 20- to 30-year-olds interested in March Madness.”
Randal said there are different challenges for these types of projects. “There’s pressure to make it as visually simulating or humorous as possible, while also needing to make it really authentic. At the same time, it’s a great opportunity for photographer because there’s no shortage of a need for content.”
In the case of the Charles Barkley Snapchat spot, Randal did shoot it with a camera, but turned the camera vertically because the ads would only appear on a phone.
“Snapchat is the definition of authentic. It’s so scrappy. There’s no filter and you can’t curate everything,” he said. “We didn’t want it to be too pretty or perfect. But you’ve got to take it seriously because what you’re really trying to do is get people to stop scrolling for a moment.”
A big thank you to Suzanne Koller at DDB Chicago for the opportunity, and to Charles Barkley for being the consummate professional.
Client, Capital One
Agency, DDB Chicago
Producer, Suzanne Koller
CD, Shelby Georgis
CD, Billy McDermott
Director, Randal Ford
DP, Roger Peters
Production, Production Squad
Post Production, Whitehouse Post