Project: Saturday Night Spec(ial): SmaxSpots
Agency: R+R
Mission: Create a radio and video spot for Smax.
Hats worn: Pretty much all of them.
What was Ryan thinking? While riffing one day, Ryan started kicking around some lines for a potential Smax spot. They just happened to be a tongue-twisting teaser of a tasty truck Smax will be rolling out in the future. Naturally, he got on the horn with Ryan Carter to get this moving.
What makes Smax interesting is that the intrigue lies in its beautifully designed box. The food always slapped, but was ever changing. Not that box, though – there’s nothing like it here. So, that’s where the thinking started and is represented throughout the video, along with real menu items.
From there, it evolved into the attitudinal aspects of Smax’s voice. That zero-fucks given approach and the playfulness of the colors fuel the visuals. Ultimately, we wanted to bring the story back to the idea that Smax is more than a food destination – it’s for life. (See “Smax In Your Mouth” on the Goods page, if you haven’t already.)
We landed on two promo spots designed to be evergreen, very budget friendly and created on a tight timeline to simulate an authentic creative environment. Keep in mind, this was all rough and done remotely. Most importantly, we wanted to show our thinking and passion for creation, branding and the brand itself by doing this with our own time and money over the Christmas/New Year holiday stretch.
It’s all on the fly, but it’s all R+R. So, as Ryan Carter put it: that means no hunting down millennial talent to shoot at Black Cat Alley, shooting food, boxes and the Smax Truck. It’s cold and we have no budget…ha! But, we had it looking pretty damn good to start.
Hat tip to Carter on the visuals – plus Stefan Johnson and Eli Harris on the vocals.