On Thursday, August 24th, we packed up the sprinter van and drove to Cedar Falls for an Iowa Corn CyHawk Series commercial shoot. We wanted to outline our project timeline to bring you along with us.

Speaking of the Iowa Corn CyHawk Series we had ⅓ of the office stomping to “Back in Black”, ⅓ swaying “Sweet Caroline”, and ⅓ hoping both teams had a good time this weekend. It’s the love for this rivalry that has fueled our creative journey of this commercial.

To be honest, the creative journey was a short one as we had a quick turnaround time to get it all done, but we are proud to say that we accomplished the task at hand and Shelby’s phone flooded with texts when Channel 13 aired it on Friday.

Before we go any further let’s bring you up to speed.

THURSDAY, AUGUST 17 

10:00am Our team sat down with Iowa Corn to go over their vision for a series of video commercials. Their primary goal was to champion the use of Unleaded 88 through Drive Clean, a brand we had a hand in developing alongside the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association that is aimed at empowering new drivers to fuel up with this eco-friendly fuel option.

Iowa Corn also sought to celebrate their partnership with Kwik Star, who wrapped their gas pumps with the spirited colors of the Iowa Hawkeyes and Iowa State Cyclones to promote the Iowa Corn CyHawk game (so Herky and Cy obviously had to make an appearance as well).

MONDAY, AUGUST 21

2:00pm Dani (client manager), Shelby (marketing strategist), Jon (director of content), Caleb (content creator), and Parker (content creator) met in the big conference room to brainstorm 3 concepts for the commercial to share with Iowa Corn.

The concepts needed to combine the light and fun tone of the Drive Clean brand with Iowa Corn’s educational and passionate brand voice.

We drew inspiration from the Sports Center mascot commercials and wanted to utilize simple shots due to the tight deadline and limited time with the mascots.

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 23

2:00pm Arrival times for the mascots were confirmed and the schedule for the shoot was developed. Herky was booked from 3-5 and Cy would be showing up from 4-6 to get content captured for our team and Kwik Star’s.

8:30pm Facetime between Dani and Shelby to finalize the 10 scripts and shot list needed for the shoot the next day.

THURSDAY, AUGUST 24

9:00am Our internal team got together to go over the game plan for the day one last time and answered any lingering questions.

11:00am The boys packed up our sprinter van with cameras, lenses, microphones, and lights while cooling it off on a day that felt like 113 degrees outside.

12:00pm Cars were put in drive as we headed to the Kwik Star in Cedar Falls.

2:25pm The car was deemed too dirty so Dani sprinted off to get a speedy Car wash ticket and returned with a fresh and clean Terrain.

2:30pm All teams arrived. Shelby and Dani chugged Celcius energy drinks as Jon and Caleb set up the equipment for the hour we had to capture Herky’s content.

3:00pm Shelby recited the scripts she memorized with Herky at the Iowa Hawkeye pump for the Hawkeye-only content that was needed.

3:45pm Herky cooled off in the sprinter van as we waited for Cy to arrive.

4:00pm Herky and Cy came together to shoot the commercial that featured both of the mascots as well as Shelby to mediate the peace between the two.

5:00pm We sent Herky on his way to capture the content we only needed Cy for.

6:00pm Sprinter van was packed up and Dani and Shelby went to Culvers as Jon and Caleb settled on Subway.

And here lies the end of the road on our Iowa Corn CyHawk project. We’re also documenting this process on our podcast.

Next episode, we’ll be going over another video project we did with the Iowa State Sheriffs’ & Deputies’ Association because we want you to see what can be possible from documenting the journey.

Thanks for joining us this journey. One day–if we’re lucky enough–we hope we can work with you to bring your own story to life.

To rolling with the punches (and it being a Hawkeye state),

Bangers