In anticipation of the 2019 holiday season, lululemon launched a series of concept and production projects on Tongal to find simple, approachable ways to help people find the perfect holiday gifts for their nearest and dearest while scrolling through Instagram. After sourcing a number of clever and creative approaches from our community of ideators, lululemon landed on an ambassador-driven campaign called "Letters to lululemon".
The hallmark of most social video campaigns includes delivery of a multitude of assets within a short period of time, and with the holidays fast approaching, time was of the essence. Jo Gennett answered that call from her base in NYC with an exceptionally detailed treatment that broke down each individual asset by story, style, and tone.
With a collaborative attitude and energetic spirit, Jo developed a strong working relationship with lululemon and was subsequently greenlit on a follow-up project titled “Gift Specifically Holiday Content Project” that was all about finding the perfect gift for those people in your life with very specific personalities, such as the “Sweat Enthusiast” or the “Cozy Seeker”. We talked with Jo about her process working with brand ambassadors and how she tackled so many moving pieces for these two projects.
Maddie Mindling: First, tell us a little about yourself and your filmmaking background.
Jo Gennett: When I was younger, I always ripped the camcorder out of my dad’s hands during family vacations and turned our hiking trips into action-adventure sagas. On weekends, my sisters, friends, sisters’ friends, and a neighbor that I babysat for were all pulled into my weird little short films, music videos, and faux movie trailers. But then I went to study film at NYU’s Tisch where I didn’t have to force anyone to make movies with me, which was cool. That’s where I met most of the people I collaborate with today.
I’ve always wanted to direct, but I love experimenting with other roles and doing different jobs too, as it keeps me on my toes. At NYU, I was boom op on the first set I crewed on and got totally jacked from holding my arms above my head for a few days straight. But then that was exhausting so I dabbled with everything until graduation, ultimately landing in the commercial world.
My work still spans a couple areas in addition to directing— production, art direction, and treatment design. Collaborating on projects that are not just my own opens up my world a little bit to where I can learn from other directors and creatives. These are also jobs that involve the beginning stages of a project, which I find most exciting because nothing has gone wrong yet and any idea is possible. The world is our oyster!
MM: What was it like working with so many different brand ambassadors on both projects? How did you prep them and make them feel comfortable in front of the camera?
JG: I love all of them. They each have such a different approach to their athletic practices, but all share a legitimate infatuation with the brand because these are the clothes they live in (and sweat in!) every day. #sweatlife
A lot of the ambassadors were naturals in front of the camera since they have experience repping the brand for this type of shoot. Especially Elena Flores Rector, who was absolutely CRACKING ME UP with how obviously in her element she was. She already has a bright personality, but when we started rolling she brought this extra pop that came both from her on set experience and genuine passion for stretchy pants.
But most of the ambassadors are still real people as opposed to actors, so some of the ambassadors weren’t as used to the filming process. I made sure to touch base a lot throughout the day, updating them with what they would be doing several times so they knew what to expect and could mentally prepare.
When we started filming, the crew couldn’t laugh out loud while rolling audio and the ambassadors were like “why is no one laughing at my jokes.” So behind the camera, I was ridiculous with my facial expressions, smiling super big (and sometimes flossing), giving them silent cues that they were killing it.
MM: Both projects had a lot of moving pieces: 16 individual videos for two distinct lululemon audiences – @lululemon and @lululemonmen – across both Instagram Stories and Feed. How did you approach pitching on such a dynamic suite of content?
JG: Hah, yes alllll the content! During the pitching process, I first concentrated on an outline for one deliverable per platform, so that everyone was on the same page in terms of the format. It wasn’t until pre-pro, after talking with Tongal + lululemon, that I got into the nitty-gritty of each individual script.
In the treatment, I mostly wanted to get across the overall vibe of the series before getting into specifics. So I focused on the look and feel of the videos, writing about how I would make the ambassadors feel comfortable on set to achieve that lighthearted and authentic tone. I spoke about camerawork and location, highlighting how these aspects could be similar across the videos for an efficient production approach to the many deliverables.
MM: How did you streamline production to get all the shots you needed? What advice would you give to filmmakers working on projects with so many deliverables?
JG: Take deep breaths and get a great AD. The AD, producers, and I had in-depth conversations prior to the shoot day, ranking each shot from essential to nice-to-have. We knew what the core of each video was so that if and when we had to go off-book, we could identify the shots needed to complete each deliverable within the time frame.
I took the number of deliverables into account when working out the concept too, so each spot had something in common, making it easier on production. Reusing the same location a couple of times is a big one, along with creating a general approach for how we shoot each one, so we don’t have to re-learn where to position the camera with every new video.
We also consolidated a few shots to take place during one take — we just kept the camera rolling while ticking several boxes so there was less time spent resetting. In the Letters to lululemon series that meant rattling off all of the tweets during one take, then going back to our favorite ones if we wanted to spend more time on them or get another reaction. In the Gift Specifically suite, we rolled the camera and moved around to get wide/medium/close up shots of the product during one take.
MM: For "Letters to lululemon", you teamed up with the post-production house, Cutters, and for "Gift Specifically", you partnered with PROM Creative to help with production logistics. What's the benefit of seeking out these types of specialized teams to help on your projects?
JG: None of this would have gotten done without all of these people! On any project, you need a team, but especially for a job with so many deliverables, multiple brains were key in keeping track of all the moving parts. PROM has been the powerhouse behind so many productions so I trusted that they had the logistics handled, while I focused my attention on the look of the films and the ambassadors’ performances.
After wrap we jumped right into the edit for both Letters to lululemon and Gift Specifically, delivering 2 IG feed videos + 2 IG stories every week for two months, which is crazy! Cutters kept us honest about how much we could get done within an already ambitious schedule but also moved at an incredible pace because of their editing experience. I kept checking in with Peter Zachwieja, my friend and editor at Cutters saying, “Peter are you okay, are you drowning yet?” He just laughed and said, “Jo, this is fun.”
A specialized team probably (hopefully) spends so much time on their craft because they enjoy it. At the end of the day, people are getting paid to do a job, but I think you get better results and more enjoyable experience if you seek out people that love what they do. I know, I know, corny but true!
