New Era Cap - 9SEVENTY - The Martin Group

Finding a new niche.

Challenge

For New Era Cap, there are very few existing markets of which they don’t already own a considerable share. However, in 2023, they identified an opportunity in the “athleisure” space where a new offering could appeal to a very targeted audience, the Essential Athletic persona. This is “an active alpha spending money on elevated products.” Leveraging new materials, focused on performance, comfort, and wearability, the 9SEVENTY silhouette was born.

Solution

As a long-standing client, New Era came to their trusted partner, The Martin Group, for help. They tasked our team with concepting the art direction and managing the logistics of a five-day video and photography production to generate assets for the entire 9SEVENTY launch. Through the initial brief, we understood the objective: capture models wearing the new product in six different locations/destinations. To help streamline the process, our creative team provided reference imagery and overall direction to our vendors, plus provided onset direction for each location. Our internal production team managed every aspect of the shoot. From vetting photographers, casting models, and connecting with vendors, to building out schedules, identifying travel needs, procuring wardrobe, and more. Over three (very full) days between Los Angeles and San Diego, the shoot would navigate from hiking trail to lake shore, golf course, beach, tailgate, and poolside. All with multiple models, wardrobe changes, and product samples.

Results

As the campaign launched, the client utilized dozens of assets from the collective shoots— both video and still photography. The 9SEVENTY collection saw promotion across platforms and client feedback was very positive as they expressed their happiness with the process and quality of content we captured.