CASE STUDY: SWEETSHOP / OGILVY / DOVE
Me filling up my water bottle!
Case study newbie Hattie here... Back in May I production managed my first job for The Sweet Shop, for producer Justin Edmund White. On beginning the production I was given the signed agreement from Ogilvy, requesting a sustainable production. So great to have the agency on board from the word go! On this particular job, I also had a nice amount of prep time (rare), which meant I could really get stuck into the Ad Green website and do some research. I was also able to speak to HODs about making this a sustainable shoot (you can use the crew checklists here as a guide).
On entering The Sweet Shop’s office, I was super impressed at how green they were: food waste and recycling bins, a big stash of re-usable branded water bottles, and their newly arrived re-usable coffee cups. I was already loving their vibe!
We shot the Dove commercials on location for two days, using a different house for each (no unit moves, hurrah!). I began pre production by discussing waste with our location manager, Tom Bott. Quantum Waste had been recommended by AdGreen for quite a while, although nor I nor Tom had used them before. At first he was dubious about how green they really were, having had experience with other waste management companies. However, having explained how they work, he was fully on board. QW have an easy app to download, then simply enter all the pickup details (they do require 24 hours notice). They aim to pick up the waste within 2 hours of your requested time. We ordered the brilliant dual bins from Get Set Hire, and a load of clear plastic bags. We made sure we had 1 dual bin at base and then 3 dual bins at the house: one near the agency/client area, one by the tea table and one on set. The Sweet Shop's brilliant production assistant Izzy came armed with laminated signs (download them from AdGreen here) and made sure all of the bins were clearly labelled. Apart from shovelling a few tea bags from the 'all other waste' bin into the 'food waste' - and reminding the caterer to use only the clear bags - it was a great success!
The caterers supplied us with china plates and metal cutlery for breakfast and lunch, and our elevensies and late break snacks came on re-usable platters. To boost the green credentials, we also ordered an extra water cooler for unit base and a load of bio-degradable coffee cups - again from Get Set Hire.
Having given crew the heads up on the callsheet and e-mail about our AdGreen mission using the template green notes here, many of them brought their own bottles. For those that didn’t, Izzy handed out The Sweet Shop's brilliant water bottles - first labelling them up with names. We'd also labelled up bottles for all of the agency and client attendees, and for the cast. Lora Brisland, Ogilvy’s producer, said “We loved the attention to detail regarding Sweetshop's commitment to being a sustainable production. The individually named reusable water bottles made a great first impression when arriving on set.”
To reduce the need for printing, I hired Get set’s pin board on wheels and we just had 1 x A3 print out of the callsheet, schedule and risk assesment. We also prepared an A1 piece of mount board with storyboards and schedule for agency/client area, and same again for director. This same piece was used for both days. Absolutely no other printouts were used for the whole shoot! Wardrobe, hair and make up had their briefs emailed to them so they could view digitally on the shoot. Long gone now are the late night stapling sessions of endless paperwork. We also brought along The Sweet Shop’s brilliant reusable and environmentally friendly bags to ensure that runners used them to save getting unnecessary plastic bags when out on runs.
Ben Keswick and Lee Cannon with the brilliant Locamats!
The final AdGreen addition was the brilliant Locamats. Our location manager Tom Bott had heard of them through other location managers. Although he hadn't tried them himself, he was keen. And given that we also had the support of Ogilvy in making the shoot as sustainable as possible, we went for it. Locamats are 100% nylon fibre, re-usable protective floor coverings, and can withstand heavy foot traffic. They have a rubber anti slip backing and are also very easy to move around. The Locamats team delivered a variety of sizes and even helped lay them down. No more horrible corex and gaffer tape sessions! Once you wrap, the driver arrives to collect them, before they're cleaned and sent out on the next job.
This was lovely project to work on, and it was so great to have such a supportive producer and everyone on board and keen to do their bit (including the 1st AD who cycled to and from set and to the unit base for lunch)!
To help you on your shoot, check out our resources section, with tips for production teams, agency staff and crew. If you're UK based and working directly in production or creative, you can also attend one of our training sessions. Our FAQ section covers various topics from waste reduction to offsetting. If you'd like to help inspire others by sharing your innovative sustainable production solutions, get in touch. Just 3 or 4 points and a few images is enough for us to put together a case study.
