Lowe's | Metabo HPT
Video Concept, Direction & Editing
Online Promotional Video
Real Art | Lowe’s Home Improvement
Roles
Project Lead, Director, Editor
Lowe’s called Real Art. The line had been disconnected.
We were asked to pitch a promo video for a new brand of tools. We were on schedule to present 3 concepts.
Unknown to our clients in North Carolina, Real Art had no power and no phones. Southwest Ohio had just been ravaged by 18 tornadoes.
After a short extension on our deadline, Real Art presented our 3 concepts to Lowe’s—and a new 4th concept in the wake of the disaster.
Concept 4 described a loose plan to drive around the affected areas of Greater Dayton and give these brand new tools to the contractors rebuilding homes. And film it.
Lowe’s picked the 4th option. This is the the result of that project.
Storytime
Today is May 27th, 2020.
Everyone agrees that 2020 has been a pretty shitty year so far. But if you’re from Dayton, 2019 was pretty damn rough, too. It started one year ago tonight.
On May 27th, 2019, I spent the day on the beach. My wife and 3 kids met up with family and friends at the Outer Banks, NC for a getaway over Memorial Day Weekend.
Texts from Ohio
We were all aware that there were some bad storms back home, but the severity was unknown until text messages starting coming in.
“Are your sirens going off too?”
“Are you guys safe?”
“Where are you?”
The next morning, coverage confirmed that two people were killed in the storm, and hundreds—if not thousands—of homes were damaged or destroyed. After checking with neighbors, we were all extremely relieved to find out that our houses were safe. But Real Art was without power, and my team was working directly out of Chris Wire’s house for the time being.
Among all the texts and news articles, I got a call from my boy Jesse Lee Brown—hardcore Daytonian, filmmaker and one of my favorite dudes. He was like “what are we gonna do?”
What We Did
I had been working with Lowe's to introduce a new line of tools by Metabo HPT. The beauty of these tools was that they were both corded and cord-less, meaning they were perfect for conditions without power.
Upon my return to Dayton, I talked more with Jesse and we kicked around the idea of skewing this Lowe’s project in a direction that focused on Dayton. I took the idea to Real Art, where Philip Heiss and Chris Wire helped me shape it into a pitch that wasn’t just all about tornadoes, but that really focused on this tool set as “the perfect tools for any situation”.
Our client Andrew Manzella at Lowe’s was extremely awesome. He saw this pitch for what it was—an opportunity to do meaningful work that had heart. He green-lit the project and immediately began coordinating the cornerstone of the project; the inclusion of Metabo HPT’s representative, Paul Biagi.
It took a long time to get all the approvals, schedule travel, and plan the shoot. Andrew and a small client team arrived from NC, and Paul flew in from Boston. The next day we threw thousands of dollars worth of tools in the back of a truck and hit the road.
Shoot Day
In 3 days, we traveled to multiple areas hit by the tornadoes. From Beavercreek to Vandalia to the areas where I grew up (Englewood, Trotwood and Clayton), we drove around and found contractors working through the rain and heat, willing to “put our tools to the test.”
At no point did we tell the crews we were going to give them the tools. Our plan was to surprise them at the end and capture their reactions. The problem was that these are workers who are trying to get a job done. Asking if they’ll “test” tools for you, and bringing out cameras is likely to get you kicked off the property. I was stressed as hell.
Straight Terror
I had championed this concept and had personally vouched for this direction, and I promised all these people who had flown to Dayton that this would work. I had no idea if it would.
If you’re reading this, I can tell you’re down for the details, so I don’t mind telling you. Never in my life have I regretted pitching a direction so badly. I truly felt that I had made a terrible mistake. I had spent a month preparing for this shoot with almost nothing to show.
Most of the contractors had ghosted me. The ones who gave me permission to film on their site cancelled their jobs because of rain leading up to the shoot week. The forecast predicted more rain.
I was done for. This project was mine, and I was about to blow it. Tens of thousands of dollars were wrapped up in production. We pitched 3 other treatments, all of which were SO much simpler, each of which would have made perfectly fine product videos.
I’ve never dreaded a video shoot like I dreaded this one. I didn’t sleep the night before.
But, I was wrong with one major detail: this project wasn’t mine.
The Crew of the Metabo HPT Project
When I arrived the morning of shoot day, Andrew and his team from Lowe’s were pumped and ready to go. They worked very hard for three long days to make this a success. This was important to Lowe’s, and this was their project.
Paul Biagi wasn’t just a Metabo HPT rep—he was THE Metabo HPT rep. He truly believed in these tools, and rightfully so, because the tools were really impressive. They were the stars of the show, and once we got them in the right hands, all the details worked themselves out. This was Paul’s project.
Our shooting crew had adopted this project as their own during the concept phase as well. Philip Heiss took lead DP role like a seasoned vet, and his second shooter Alec Bell did what I believe to be his best work to date. Our producers, Mark Kargl and Alison Westfall went above and beyond. Freelancer producer Kathleen Hartshorn was a vital cog. Jesse Lee Brown, our acting sound man, was the one who had called me that night after the tornados, asking “what are we gonna do?” This was his project.
This was our project.
The rain stopped. The sun came out. The contractors were rock stars. They weren’t just hard workers, they were great people who accommodated and helped us.
And when we left them with these badass tools in their hands? They thought we were the rock stars.
It was a much riskier way to promote tools, but Lowe's trusted us. It took all damn summer to make it happen, but eventually we released the film. It's a marketing video about tools, but also it's a love letter from Real Art and our clients at Lowe's to the city of Dayton, who were brave enough to use a tool marketing video as an opportunity to make a small difference to a city who really needed it.
It won some awards, but I’ll always remember it for how scary it was, and how rewarding. I’d like to say that I’ll never do anything like it again, but if my city ever goes through a natural disaster like this again, I hope I have the opportunity—and the balls—to try to make a difference.
Bonus Content
Still not enough for ya?
In that case, here’s a little something.
In the long, long post-production process that followed this video shoot, there were lots of twists and turns. That’s a whole other story I won’t go into, but the bottom line is that the video needed to be shortened and the “surprise” giveaway of tools had to be removed for PR reasons.
But, I still have the last draft of what we call the “real version”. It’s unfinished and still very rough (watermarked music, no color, FPO type) but the story is more pure and I prefer it. If you’d like, view it here.
