Shooting a spring running campaign in the middle of a Berlin winter
I’m a little behind with my news. I actually photographed this campaign for HOKA last year, ahead of the launch of the Mach 7 in March. The only problem with shooting a spring running campaign months before its release? It was December in Berlin. And it was freezing.
We had several models, running shorts, temperatures well below zero and just over half a day to produce a large pool of imagery for the HOKA x INTERSPORT launch of the Mach 7.
Making Berlin look a little less like December
We photographed everything on the streets of West Berlin, moving between several locations throughout the day. Apart from keeping everyone warm, one of the slightly less obvious challenges was keeping Christmas out of the pictures. A Christmas market was taking place nearby and anything too festive in the background would have looked rather strange when the campaign launched in March.
So while we were looking for good light, architecture and running locations, we were also keeping an eye out for Christmas decorations sneaking into the frame. For the models, the shoot became a rhythm of getting outside, shooting quickly and getting warm again before moving on. Running around Berlin in shorts in December is one thing. Standing around waiting for the next setup is another.
Despite the cold and a pretty tight schedule, we came away with a broad selection of running and lifestyle imagery for the launch.
From Berlin to INTERSPORT stores across Europe
One of the nice things about this project was seeing just how widely the photographs ended up being used. The campaign rolled out across Europe through INTERSPORT, with the images appearing at point of sale as well as across social media. Over the following months, I kept coming across the work in different markets — from Spain to the Czech Republic and elsewhere across Europe.
I’ve included some of those applications here as well. Alongside the original photographs, you can see examples of the POS material and campaign layouts showing how the imagery was ultimately used by the design team.
Seeing photographs leave your screen and turn up in stores thousands of kilometres away is still a pretty good feeling.
Client: HOKA Europe
Partner: INTERSPORT
Graphics: Pioneers Agency
Assignment: Advertising Photography / Campaign Imagery / SportsPhotography
Services: Locationscouting, Preproduction, Photography & Retouching
Photography & Retouching: Ulrich Schuster
Location: Berlin
