Autotrader: Accelerate Your Deal — Commercial

Working with Nascar drivers Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski on Autotrader commercials is a blast! Over the last few years, I’ve produced multiple spots featuring the two of them for the Autotrader brand. They bring a lot of energy and hilarious banter to set, so the creative is designed to play off their friendship. Our first spots were shot on a studio set inspired by the popular ‘90s TV Series Home Improvement. I had the Art Department create a turf “backyard” with lots of trees, foliage and a large woodsy canvas backdrop, and we also built out a deck complete with a Big Green Egg grill to sell the look. Each spot was themed around an outrageous gag––like strapping a high powered model rocket to an RC car, or grilling burgers using a flamethrower.

The following year, creative centered around the cars. To give the fans a rare BTS perspective, we filmed on location at the Penske Racing facility. Our shoot day was divided between two specific areas: the shop floor, where cars are worked on at various stages; and their practice pit stop where the pit crew runs drills. To eliminate any surprises on shoot day, Director Chris Fenner and I worked with my friend, Ruben Orellana, to storyboard each spot so that everyone is on the same page. We gave him pictures of each location, all talent and even details for set pieces and wardrobe so that his boards were as accurate as possible. This gave us a clear blueprint to follow on shooting day, and was a helpful guide while working on set. Ruben’s work is so detailed and “picture perfect” that he’ll even add lens flares to the images! I’d be lost without his talent. And since meeting him, I have brought him on to almost every project I have produced. 

Producing projects of this size for a brand like Autotrader means that there are multiple levels of approval for each spot. It requires coordination and approval from Cox Automotive, the Autotrader brand, and Nascar driver reps. As you can imagine, managing the budget, a two-location shoot day, all the crew, clients and equipment involved, and consistent creative execution while shooting, takes a lot of planning and coordination. During production it can feel like for every challenge, there are five more awaiting my attention. But gratification comes when the shoot day is successful, the spreadsheets are balanced, and the clients are happy.