Castore AW21
The Carrera Collection
With COVID restrictions limiting travel options, we took a break from our traditional Tuscan and Andalusian campaign photography locations for Castore's AW20 Carrera collection. Instead, we chose the captivating backdrop of Loch Lomond, Scotland.
As the Creative Lead on this project, I oversaw the end-to-end production of our creative process, from art direction to photography direction, and finally to artwork execution. In a first for Castore, I also introduced motion into the artwork, enhancing our premium aesthetic with a dynamic touch and an improved user-journey experience.
From the stunning panoramic hilltop views to the lakeside perspective, the location was the perfect setting to capture performance-engineered clothing designed specifically to enhance our athlete's experience. Here are the locations chosen to shoot, giving a different perspective to winter training:
1. Lakeside at Rowardennan
2. Rowallan Castle, East Ayrshire
3. Conic Hill
4. Balmaha Forest Trail
On location, my role was to lead the photography direction of the campaign, refining previous approaches to be more garment-focused over scenery. Previous campaigns had been guilty of capturing a mood at the cost of the garments, with the models getting lost against the landscape. Here is a collage of some location selects from which we built a comprehensive multichannel campaign.
Now we have our hero photography pieces, my team and I adapted them into assets for the campaign. Introducing motion into the creative was a first for Castore at the time, which was a real elevation against previous campaigns. More dynamic content for socials, in-store digital screens, emails and hero sections of our website brought the campaign to life, giving us a more dynamic user-journey experience.
Step 1.
Make the photography selects with the team and pick a hero image for each garment.
Step 2.
Apply the appropriate colour treatment to
the photography.
Step 3.
Cut out the model against the background.
Step 4.
Edit the background scenery, filling in the gap left by the model cut-out.
Step 5.
Give the background a more panoramic appearance, suitable for wider artboards.
Step 6.
Reposition the model against the background scenery for the best result.
Step 7.
Slowly enlarge the model within the space.
Step 8.
Compliment Step 7 by slowly reducing the size of the background whilst applying a blur effect, creating a subtle focus on the garment.
Step 9.
Slide the model out of the shot whilst sliding in the campaign ID into the artwork .
Step 10.
The campaign ID finds its position in the centre of the artwork and again, subtly enlarge the ID to bring focus to it.
By applying this process to our selected hero images, my team and I were able to craft a versatile bank of assets. These assets could then be seamlessly integrated across our digital channels, enriching our asset library with greater depth and dynamism. A big step in the evolution of the Castore brand direction and the development of consistent user journey campaign creative.
