In recent years, commercials have been replaced with iPhone videos, both in their creation and consumption. Fewer people are getting their ads on television, and there are fewer major commercial productions as a result. Instead you get vertical influencer marketing, run and gun iPhone shoots, and weird AI-generated stuff.
So when one of my friends mentioned he was doing a true commercial for adidas, I asked if I could check it out. I wanted to see what it felt like to be on set of a major commercial production.
The commercial was for an exclusive Adistar Control 5 collaboration with Larry June. The Control 5 was originally a technical running shoe from the 2000s, and has been revived as a sort of Y2K-ish lifestyle sneaker. Larry calls his collaborative colorway the ‘watermelon smoothie.’
The commercial was being shot at a massive house in Beverly Hills. Maybe the nicest house I’ve ever been in.
There were a ton of people on set, probably more than 40. Different rooms were staged for different purposes: some were for shooting, some for photo, there was a director’s room with a bunch of chairs and monitors, a wardrobe room (there were more outfits than I could count even though I only ever saw Larry in like two), and a dining room with professional catering.
We mostly saw them working on three shots: Larry opening the fridge; Larry smashing a watermelon with a hammer; and Larry drilling into the top of a milk carton.
There was a huge team behind the camera coordinating each shot. There were people in the director’s room watching each shot and giving feedback. They took a bunch of takes for each one.
The shoot was still going when we left like five hours later.
It was impressive to see the scale and care of the production. I’ve been on commercial shoots for brands that feel like a content factor. This felt more like a movie set.
It’s a dying art, making commercials like this. But it still creates a very professional product. Here’s how the commercial came out: