Lowe’s | “NFL Home Team”
2021 NFL Draft - Broadcast Hand-off Campaign
Creative / Direction
Client
Lowe’s Home Improvement
Roles
Director | Editor
2021
Cities: San Deigo / Dallas / ATL
Athletes: Drew Brees / Justin Fields / Najee Harris
Deliverables: 3 Twitter videos / 3 broadcast videos
Behind the Scenes
San Deigo, CA
“Drew’s House”
“Home-Team HQ”
Testing Testing
Poor Philip had to throw a frog into a basket.
From 10 feet away.
In front of Drew Brees…
ideaman | Dallas, Texas
Najee’s favorite part of the shoot experience — the steamer.
A truck fit for a Big 10 champion.
Coco’s Studios | ATL
Storytime
Drew Brees wouldn’t retire.
Even in early March of 2021—a month after the super bowl—Brees hadn’t retired.
No press conference, no announcements, no nothing. Even his hometown newspaper, the San Diego Union-Tribune, had just published an article speculating that maybe Drew was planning another season.
Among the NFL teams, analysts, and journalists who had a professional interest in Drew’s future, an unlikely company was patiently waiting for an announcement, ready to pen a contract with Drew the moment he announced his retirement—Lowe’s.
I’m a huge football fan so I loved the story. I knew his decision would affect the NFL in a huge way, but I never thought of all the other companies and people affected by that decision.
One company was Lowe’s.
One person was me.
But, Drew Brees wouldn’t retire.
The Clock
Lowe’s was planning to make Drew the figurehead for the 2021 “NFL Home Team” campaign. They had plans to build 3 broadcast commercials that would debut during the NFL Draft. The more time passed, the more danger the project was in.
The 2021 NFL Draft was scheduled for April 29th. The morning of March 14th, there were still no answers. The project was down to 6 weeks until launch, and hadn’t started.
But later that day Drew put the question to rest.
The Announcement
Actually Drew’s kids answered the question. With an Instagram post filmed by his wife, Drew’s 4 children announced their dad’s retirement.
Behind the scenes at Lowe’s, The project started. Two weeks later, Real Art was hired to film and produce.
The Sprint
When we were officially awarded the job, we had 3 cities to visit, 3 athletes to film, 3 twitter videos to cut, and 3 broadcast spots to release.
The next few weeks were a blur of plane flights and hotel rooms. Drew Brees was the face of the campaign, but his conversations with draftees Justin Fields and Najee Harris were the heart of the concept.
While Drew has spent a lifetime in front of the camera, Justin and Najee were fresh out of college and just beginning careers in endorsement (Pre-NIL).
But, both our super-green athletes and our veteran pro were fantastic. All 3 were super impressive people and great human beings. They crushed it, and with the help of our FANTASTIC production partners in our 3 cities, so did we.
Credits
Client
Lowe’s Home Improvement
Agency
Deutsch LA
Production Agency
Real Art
Chris Wire - Account Exec
Alison Westfall - Production San Diego / Dallas
Kyle Moore / Mark Kargl - Production Atlanta
Andy Nick | Director / Assistant Editor
Cody Brown | DP - San Diego
Philip Heiss | DP - Dallas / ATL
Production
Concrete - San Deigo Production
David Cea - Editorial & Finishing
Cody Brown - Editorial
Garrett Brubaker - GFX
Creative Waveforms - Sound Mix
Dan Edwards - Colorist
ideaman - Dallas, TX
Coco Studios - Atlanta, GA
Special Thanks
Concrete Productions. You guys are nothing short of amazing. Special <3 to Jori and Cathy—may we cross paths again.
