When Coors Banquet invites you to their table, you don’t stop to think about it. You put on your best vest and make a good impression. Colorado photographer Matt Nager did just that and won out on the bid that would send him to Golden, Colorado, where the magic is brewed.
First off, can you tell me about this project and how you got involved with it?
The Coors Banquet shoot came to me through the Cavalry agency in Chicago. They were looking for a local photographer for a three day shoot and I won out on the bid for the project. The project brief was to shoot one of the iconic Coors Banquet breweries in a way to highlight its origins and the small town feel of Golden, Colorado. We spent one day shooting around town, one day in the brewery, and a third day in the mountains outside of Golden.
What was the goal of the campaign?
The goal of the campaign was to create a library of images for social media use for Coors Banquet. The client’s hope was to get six month’s worth of imagery to spread around the web. It was really great to have such a wide range of subject matter to shoot. I love the idea of shooting for a library of images as it allows us to shoot a wide range of images including details, wide shots, iconic imagery, etc. We can really get into telling a visual story…which is great.
What was involved in the planning/preproduction?
We had several creative calls and a great conversation regarding the style and substance of the shoot. The shot list was pretty defined as well as fairly extensive. I think there were 40-50 shots needed. This allowed for some space for how each shot was captured in order to get variety. Timing and scheduling of the shoot was the largest constraint, but once we had the days planned out from a production standpoint, the shoot itself was fairly free-flowing. Because this was for social media and online use with a local feel, Coors was really after a documentary, on-the-fly look. This was helpful from a planning perspective, as the production was toned down a bit. This helped during busy days of shooting where we were moving quickly between shots.
Did you face any challenges with this project? If so, how did you overcome them?
I think the largest challenge of this project was making sure to get each shot that was needed with the fast tempo of the shoot. A challenge with creating a library of images with many uses is how to tell the story from multiple perspectives while making sure to keep a coherent feel and style. That’s also what makes it great. I’m not spending an entire day setting up one shot with 10 lights. It’s more about having a concise and defined plan and improvising in each setting. It really comes back to storytelling. The challenge can be a lot of fun.
What has the reaction to the images been so far?
The campaign has gone over really well. It’s been great to present this to new and existing clients. I love creating a library of images that can be used across platforms from print to billboard to online. Having the ability to tell a story while producing quality stand alone images really gets back to how I shoot an editorial story, so it’s great to present to both editorial and advertising clients. From a client perspective, I’ve noticed a big increase in their social media followers, so hopefully my images helped play a role.
Any future plans for this project?
I’d love to continue work with Coors as they are a great local brand and have such an iconic image. I don’t currenlty have plans to continue this project with them, but am always happy to jump on new projects.
What was your favorite part of the project?
Having access to the Coors archive museum was certainly a highlight. We spent a couple hours just going through the old bottles and products. We set up a little backdrop studio and basically shot still life images of all the old stuff. It was awesome.
To view more of Matt’s photography, check out mattnager.com.