Visit Knoxville | VMLY&R

Encouraging people to slow down, be safe, and enjoy the view when they come and visit Knoxville.

OPPORTUNITY

As the State of Tennessee coped with the fallout from COVID-19, they worked with their agency VMLY&R to develop an ad campaign encouraging safe tourism. Along with Visit Knoxville, they approached us to produce the Knoxville portion of their “For the love of…” series. While they provided us with scripts and a general direction, it was up to us to bring these spots to life. The turnaround time was quick as we were racing the falling autumn leaves, but we assembled a fantastic team and secured a number of locations, talent, and props in record time.

SOLUTION

We used our vast local knowledge to fill in their scripts with gorgeous locations and then cast the perfect talent for each of the three :30 spots. From shooting off of the side of pontoon boat on the Tennessee River to working with a camera-shy lion at Zoo Knoxville to safely filming a bar scene mid-pandemic, we stayed flexible and adapted to overcome the significant obstacles of managing a large production in 2020. Visit Knoxville also wanted to get these spots out fast, which required a very compressed postproduction schedule, and we navigated that with a variety of methods that allowed us all to work remotely while meeting deadlines. In the end, the spots were very well received and continue to inspire people to come safely visit our wonderful hometown.