When Whole Foods decided to launch its very first advertising campaign late last year, it was the first time the brand was putting a face to their name on a national level. With help from branding firm Partners & Spade, Whole Foods created the concept behind their “Values Matter” campaign, which relied heavily on photography and real people. The super market mogul was sure it wanted the photographs to be honest and true to the campaign’s core message.
Partners & Spade approached talent repping agency Sarah Laird & Good Company about a particular photographer they knew would be perfect for the job: New York City based portrait photographer, Anders Overgaard. “Anders has a great ability for getting great expression out of subjects, and making them feel very comfortable on set. The ease that he creates shooting subjects made him a natural choice for this shoot,” Anders’ rep, Kenna Zimmer, told us.
Photo by Anders Overgaard for the Values Matter campaign
With the campaign gaining more buzz, and producing double the awareness within its main target market (40 year-olds and under in households with children) we decided to chat with Anders about what it was like to shoot such a successful, and visually stunning national campaign. From shooting with film to using natural light Anders explained how he brought the Values Matter campaign to life.
PS: You’re known for your celebrity portraiture and high-end fashion commercial work – this campaign is a bit off the beaten path for you. What drew you to it?
AO: Because it was all portraiture. What I like about portraits is that it’s all about telling a story in that picture – it’s not about how famous the person is. It doesn’t matter if it’s Robert Di Nero, or your next door neighbor, it shouldn’t be about the status of the person. That’s what the Value Matters campaign is all about: regular people.
Photo by Anders Overgaard for the Values Matter campaign
What was the casting process like for this campaign?
Whole Foods was heavily involved in the casting process, because some of the subjects in the campaign were actual Whole Foods employees. In some of the images the people pictured are either suppliers or store employees which I think makes the campaign even more amazing.
There are so many great people in these pictures with great stories – and they’re very passionate about their work. There’s one image in particular though, that stands out for me, of farmer Frank who we shot with his back turned, walking through his own fields. When I was in Time Square recently, I caught the image of Frank being projected all over the giant advertising screens and snapped a pic to Instagram it. The image reached Frank, and he got in touch to let me know how much the image meant to him. Turns out his last job in the city was in Times Sq, and to have an image of himself projected in that very place, walking away, towards the fields was incredibly moving.
Photo by Anders Overgaard for the Values Matter campaign
What type of creative direction did Whole Foods give you?
Most importantly, Whole Foods wanted the images to look very honest, and very real – which I think links well to their product and who they are. They also made it clear that they wanted minimal retouching.
From the beginning, I just wanted everyone to look as real as possible – we really wanted to speak to the truth because these are real people, they’re not overly retouched, and they’re in their own environment. I think that’s why the campaign is so strong, people can relate to it.
There are some shots with live animals – how was it dealing with animals on set?
I always somehow end up with groups of kids or animals on my shoots – it’s like the X-Factor! That said, I’m very use to it and enjoy it. Since the subjects in the photographs are the animal’s actual handlers, we had their help. Such as the girl with all the white cows – she knows those cows, and that made my job a lot easier.
Photo by Anders Overgaard for the Values Matter campaign
What equipment did you use for these portraits?
A lot of this campaign was shot on film – we shot on the Pentax 6X7, and backed it on Polaroid too which is exciting, just the sheer magic of the Polaroid. In terms of lighting, I depend heavily on natural light and add as little artificial light as possible – so a lot of this series was shot with natural sunlight.
How many days were you shooting, and on how many locations?
We moved around quite a bit to many different locations – from farms, to fishing villages, to a beach, and more. It was a couple days of long shooting – mostly on the East Coast, specifically Long Island and the New York area. We wanted to make the campaign look very diverse location-wise, so we made sure to get everything from the orchards to the coastline.
Photo by Anders Overgaard for the Values Matter campaign
How did you make sure your subjects felt comfortable on set since some of them were “real people”?
It’s the same every time you shoot, if it’s a celebrity or someone who’s never been photographed before – it’s the same kind of route you take to make people comfortable. Make sure you have a good team (stylists, wardrobe, etc.) and also make sure you have a good atmosphere on set, it will absolutely show in your pictures.
Follow Anders on Instagram, here and his rep agency, Sarah Laird & Good Company, here.
Shooting Whole Foods’ First Ever National Ad Campaign: A Talk with Anders Overgaard
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