Recently, we spent 4-1/2 days riding 23 gravel bikes in the desert for upcoming reviews and buyer’s guides for Bikerumor and GearJunkie.
We put in more than 400 miles, captured 2,100 photos, and probably about 2TB of video footage.
And we learned a whole lot about how to manage a mega test event. The key takeaways, which you can apply to your own brand photo shoots, are:
- Have an actual plan
- Know what assets you need to capture in advance
- Make a shot list
- Everything takes longer than you think
- Add a day or two
- Be flexible
- Batch the product shots separately from the action shots
- Have a separate photographer so the talent can focus on performing
- Have dedicated support people for food prep, laundry, etc.
- Take notes after each product test, else it blurs together
I’ve put on a lot of events before, from 24 hour mountain bike races to content marketing conferences. Even my family road trips are real productions. In every case, proper planning is essential to their success. If you’re planning a launch event, product shoot, etc., and need some help, give me a shout, I’m happy to help.