2023 SPRING: 43: ASSIGNMENT FORTY THREE: CIGARS AND BRANDY FOR AN AD AGENCY PITCH

DUE JANUARY 2, 2023

2020 – ASSIGNMENT FIFTY: CIGAR / BRANDY BAR FOR AN AD AGENCY PITCH

THE BRIEF:

WHAT IS A PITCH?

When a company decides they want to look at a new ad agency, they let it be known (many ways) that they are ready to be “pitched”. That means agencies can put together creative work and ideas in order to meet with the client and ‘pitch’ their services. These can be simple meetings with slides and charts, to elaborate presentations with video, dummy ads, and more.

If an agency feels they can do better creative than the company is getting now (and can back that creativity up with some stats, numbers, theories, examples etc…) they will spend thousands (tens of thousands) on that presentation to get the gig. Spending $10,000 to get a two year deal with Burger King is a no-brainer.

I have occasionally been hired to work with local agencies on such presentations, and my agency hired photographers on three or four such presentations when we needed to have creative in the meeting. I have usually been paid, but it is not a full rate thing… cover expenses and such.

The image will only be used for the presentation, so there is no usage attached other than ‘no’… heh.

In this assignment, you are being asked to help an ad agency make a presentation to a client for their business. Your job is to deliver a killer image within the constraints of time and budget.

Their budget is about $450 and 500 for this shot, so they don’t want you to go crazy on props or anything like that. But they do want to make sure you hit a couple of notes:

UPSCALE BRANDY AND CIGAR BAR

Brandy or Whisky colored liquid in brandy snifters.
Cigars in bands.
If the cigar is lit, smoke should be visible.
The cigar does not have to be a premium, but it should look large (no slims, or cigarillos)
Airy and open looking background/set… outside would be good too since the cigar and brandy store now has an outside grill area they are pushing.
People are optional, but if they are in the shot they should be in the background and out of focus.
No ash in ashtray even if the cigar is burning.
Happy and upbeat visuals.
Food is not an option, so no food

ASSIGNMENT:
TWO SHOTS OF SAME SET DIFFERENT VIEWS. POST PROCESSING TREATMENT CAN BE WHATEVER YOU WANT BUT NO BLACK AND WHITE.

A BRIEF…

As you approach this assignment, keep in mind all of the tropes and mythology of Brandy.

“Claret is the liquor for boys; port for men; but he who aspires to be a hero must drink brandy.”
— Samuel Johnson

“I neither want it [Brandy] nor need it, but I should think it pretty hazardous to interfere with the ineradicable habit of a lifetime.”
— Winston Churchill

“The most sensible thing to do to people you hate is to drink their brandy.”
— Elizabeth Taylor

Brandy is one of those liquors that has a brand all its own. It is considered warm, friendly, and sophisticated. Brandy is not only a drink but a color, a lifestyle, a destination for the pallet that defines one’s taste.

Now, whether that is right or wrong is certainly debatable, but the point is that is how the world thinks of it in a general fashion. So too must we when crafting an image that will appeal to Brandy connoisseurs and cigar aficionados.

What is the correct color palette for a drink associated with warm?
How should we light the liquid? Is it enough to add some light penetrating from the back, or should we add something to the reflection on the glass itself? And for that matter, what kind of glass do we use?

This assignment calls for a sophisticated approach – whether masculine or feminine – one that speaks to the general attitude regarding Brandy and its value.

Aesthetics across the board. From surfaces to backgrounds to props, this shoot should be about a particular type of lifestyle.

Shoot accordingly.

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