Every once in awhile a project comes along with way more facets than ordinary photo projects. This is one such project!
Client: Air Animal Pet Movers is a company that specializes in the arrangement of domestic and international travel for pets, to include at least dogs and cats. Their family-owned business was founded by Dr. Walter Woolf, a licensed veterinarian in 1977. I was brought in to this project by friend and client Karen Frashier of AdvocateMarketingPR, who had been hard at work helping Air Animal with their brand presence and marketing message. After several conversations it was determined (and driven by magazine articles Karen had pre-arranged in both Lufthansa Cargo and British Travel Magazine) that we needed to shoot 3 key images to get the magazine articles to snap: one at Tampa International Airport that showing an Air Animal Van entering the Airport, a pet examination shot for a dog that was actually traveling to Brussells in real life, and a shot of a ‘stand-in’ dog (looked the same!) being checked in at an counter inside the airport. We also produced studio portraits of all staff posing with their personal pets – a clever way of playfully shooting what would typically be head shots to give their website more personality.
Challenges: At the top of this list was the fact that all shots but one featured live animals, which automatically increased the ‘trickiness’ factor exponentially! We needed the assistance of the TIA marketing and security departments to help manage incoming airport traffic as we shot our images at sunrise at the main junction entrance of the airport, one of the busiest times for the airport. We had our newly wrapped Air Animal van drive very slowly in a pre-scouted lane during morning rush hour at the entrance to the airport for four or five laps.
Client Comments: “The planets aligned and offered Air Animal not one, but two international magazine features. Thompson Brand Images got the shots we needed in two very focused shoots inside and outside one of the world’s busiest airports. Bob talked with me about the brand and the article, and we built the shoot around Lufthansa’s story.
We ignored the old showbiz warnings and worked with two weimaraners, three people, a van, an airplane, airport traffic and airport police during Florida’s unpredictable rainy season. Then, we did it again two weeks later with studio shots of Air Animal staff with their pets. The pets and the people look great in every shot and mesh with the brand—not an easy task. But that’s what Bob does! Another successful project by Thompson Brand Images…”
Thompson Brand Images 