Case Study
GETTING SUPER SILLY WITH SUPER-SOD
by Ben Arnold, Sr. Producer
Super-Sod, a family-run sod & seed company that grows its own turf and ships it all over the Southeast. With 10 of its own farms and more than 20 dedicated stores, Super-Sod had already laid the foundation of a regional brand with massive growth potential. It was at this pivotal moment that their marketing team came to us and asked how we could help boost brand awareness for a particular product of theirs.
With humble beginnings in Lakeland, Georgia more than 60 years ago, the company has gone from just selling sod to professional landscapers to establishing themselves as turf & horticulture experts with their very own line of garden products. In fact, one of their most popular products has been their Soil3 organic compost, delivered in a massive cubic-yard BigYellowBag. Soil3 had already received lots of “grassroots” support (pun intended) among D.I.Y. gardeners. But now Super-Sod wanted to increase its profile and introduce Soil3 to a whole new set of yard enthusiasts & weekend weed pullers.
The Brief
Super-Sod came to Proper Medium with the following assignment:
Create a series of CTV ads that grab viewers’ attention, build awareness about Soil3 and establish it as a fun product that’s easily delivered and/or installed.
Target homeowners who are serious about their gardens, flower beds & yards (and not-so-serious about branding).
Differentiate Soil3 as a product that can be used by anyone with a green thumb (or not) to achieve professional results.
Our Solution - Plant A Lot Of Seeds
With our marching orders in hand, Proper Medium’s creative core kicked off pre-production by putting together a veritable thicket of potential ideas. No concept was too silly. We pitched them all just to see which one would take root. Faces covered in humus compost were described. Something called a “yard warming party” was discussed. We also floated the idea of a family moving out of their house and onto their lawn, just because they loved Soil3 so much.
But in the end, the concept that the client liked best was the podcaster one.
It was simple enough. Show a podcaster doing what podcasters do best––except make her guests a potted plant and a bag of Soil3. Maybe she’s crazy. Maybe she has a superpower that allows her to chat with Super-Sod products. It doesn’t matter. The point was, it would be ridiculous in the best way possible.
However, once the Super-Sod team signed off on the concept, we had to regroup and ask ourselves, “How is this thing going to work, anyway?” That’s when we decided to make our own very casually produced backyard version of the concept, just to see how it might look and feel. Here are a few storyboards from that animatic:
Casting
Once we got the concept nailed down and some initial scripts drafted, it was time to find our podcaster in the rough. Our Super-Sodcaster, if you will. Our perfect plant lady with the power & grace to gab with the gardenias.
As with most of our projects, we conducted an exhaustive talent search, receiving hundreds of headshots and selecting more than 2 dozen candidates for video audition callbacks. There were a lot of great performances to choose from (and we got to see a lot of house plants too). But ultimately, the marketing team at Super-Sod made the final call. They were smitten with Najah Bradley.
Najah is a professional actor and model based in Atlanta. And while she kills it in the dramatic role department, what set her apart for this project was her willingness…to get a little weird with it.
Check out her 2nd round callback audition below.
The Finished Products
The shoot day itself was a blast. We filmed everything at a private residence just south of the city. Their garden was meticulously manicured and worked as the perfect backdrop for our podcasting plant obsessive. Najah brought a lot of improvisational energy to the set, which always makes for great comedic takes in the final edit.
But enough of the fluff.
Check out a few of the finished products below & see if they grow on ya.