LIMEY Directorial duo KN+SAW (Katrine Naleid and Stephen Austin Welch) have just completed a new TV commercial for Elmer’s Glue titled “Let’s Bond.” Comprising both the live action and a print campaign also shot by KN+SAW the project gave the directors their first opportunity to collaborate with the creative team at SBC Advertising on a national campaign in both mediums.
"Working with Katrine and Stephen through LIMEY was a pleasure from start to finish,” says Neil Widerschein, Chief Creative Officer, SBC Advertising. “They were exceptional collaborators throughout the process, helping us perfectly capture the fresh direction we're taking the Elmer's brand. The entire production — courtesy of LIMEY — was refreshingly absent of drama or unpleasant surprises. As a team, they were focused on our project from the very beginning all the way through editorial. We all absolutely loved working with them and would do it again in a heartbeat."
When SBC Advertising first brought their concept to KN+SAW, they were thrilled about directing a piece that would go from talking about glue to talking about creating memories that last a lifetime. “We were tasked with making very genuine moments, watching families bond over bonding. We directed these scenes to capture authentic moments — memories in the making — filled with a child’s pride and excitement, as well as moments Mom’s and Dad’s will cherish and enjoy forever,” relates Stephen and Katrine.
What KN+SAW achieved was capturing those moments and allowing the viewer to witness playful scenes when parent and child truly connect as they share valuable time making artistic creations enabled by Elmer’s glue. Allowing the viewer to identify and relate to that cherished, quality, family time of genuine, feel-good moments — a time and place of concentration, intrigue and laughter.
SBC Advertising had the ambition to shoot both the broadcast spot and a tandem still campaign. By hiring Katrine and Stephen to shoot both the motion and stills, they were able to give the client more production while saving time and money.
KN+SAW created a combo-shoot production that was not only cohesive but maintained all of its momentum and performances. The shoots were seamless, back- to-back productions (without the costly stop-and-start that that can take a toll on budgets.)
“We played to the strengths of the actors and crew,” explains Stephen and Katrine. “We created a calm vibe on-set, which was great for the child-actors and allowed for their natural enthusiasm to come through, thereby creating great imagery."
“When it came time for the still shoot, we already knew what would and would not work concerning the lighting, blocking and performance,” continues the Directors. “So we already had a head start on the day.”
The print division at SBC Advertising had actually wanted to work with Katrine as a still shooter for quite some time. They were huge fans of her lifestyle and kids imagery. Proving that all roads lead to KN+SAW, when the ad agency presented Katrine and Stephen to the client, Elmer’s, they were already familiar with the directing duo’s work and had actually even seen an internal presentation of the duo's directing reel to show the stylistic direction the agency wanted their TV commercial to take.
The advertising agency and directors were very keen to cast actual families, as well as professional actors to create the on-set families in order to make the moments and the performances as genuine as possible. The age range of the kids was from 4 to 8 years old, a particularly challenging but wonderful age. KN+SAW shoot a lot of kids and always make sure the perfect environment is created allowing the actors, both adult and child to develop this close and unique relationship with the directors.
“One of the on-set lines that cracked us up was a 4-year-old boy who said to us while rolling, ‘You know, I’m just really not a morning person!’ He then went on to deliver a great glue bottle squeeze! We were able to capture these real emotion moments and made footage that is truly authentic and fresh,” notes Stephen and Katrine.
“The agency showed great trust in letting us imagine and invent the specific props the kids and parents worked on,” conclude the Directors. “Everything we shot was 3-dimensional; and worked very well with the product and appeared quite textured to the camera and lighting. We created fish with fins and flowing tails; an octopus out of a paper towel core; the button art is priceless. Getting the biggest fanfare are the masks — robot for dad and the cutest little fire-breathing dragon you ever did see for the girl. We are collaborative directors by nature and creating our crafting props for this spot is a place this really shined.”
CREDITS
Advertising Agency: SBC Advertising, Columbus, Ohio.
Creative Director: Neil Wilderschein
Art Director: Ian Brown
Copywriter: Ian Brown
Production Company: LIMEY, Los Angeles CA http://www.limey.tv
Director: KN+SAW
DP: David Schnack
Executive Producer: Andrew Denyer
Location:
Minneapolis, MN
Editorial Company: Optimus, Santa Monica
Editor: Erin Nordstrom
Asst. Editor: Annie Carey
Executive Producer: Therese Hunsberger
Colorist and Online Editor: Dan Swierenga
Music Company: Catfish Music, Chicago, IL
Music Composer: Jeff Boyle