Easter Promotional, Part I

I have begun the process of pulling together the Easter promotion. I thought it may be interesting to post the process as it develops.

The process began with a brainstorm session. Our goal is to create an image, for our store windows, that is "remarkable". In the brainstorming session the idea was generated to have an Easter Bunny getting a haircut. That "bunny phur" would then be used as the Easter Sac cover package. The tagline was then coined "Made from real Easter Bunny Phur".

Delux Easter Bunny Costume
This costume seemed to contain the right amount of creepiness.

The first thing I did was order the Easter Bunny costume and some extra phur that I can cut up and use as hair shavings. BuyCostumes.com delivered the costume very quickly.

Love the feel of the decor in this image. Downloadable comp from istockphoto.com.

Cool old retro looking room. Downloadable comp from istockphoto.com.

Love it! Downloadable comp from istockphoto.com.

My research helped further develop the idea. I wanted a 50's feel to the image. I thought a barber with a handlebar mustache would be a cool visual. Our web director remembered a local barber shop that had the look I was thinking of, so we all went to scope it out. They had a 100-year-old barber chair along with several antique barber tools which made this an ideal location for us. I was able to secure the location for a January 26th photo shoot.

Montana for Men 100 year old barber chair.

Montana for Men
The back drop (brick wall) of where I will put the chair to shoot the scene. I will PhotoShop in any retro elements that I feel are needed.

The next step was to book our photographer, Roger Hagadone. Roger is an awesome photographer who specializes in these types of campy shots. He is also a wonderful photographer to work with and always finds ways to improve the overall image and concept. Check out his website: Roger Hagadone.

Phil Swetz
Hired Phil to be our Barber for the shoot.

The next step was to find a barber with a handlebar mustache. I posted an ad on Craig's List and received a response within an hour. Phil Swetz will be perfect! He is booked and ready to shoot.

I then did some research for props. The barber shop that we will be shooting at is willing to let us use anything we would like, but I wanted to make sure we have access to anything that we might think of. I ordered several props from Atlanta Barber and Beauty Supply.

We had another meeting about the promotion and Shawn had the idea to use a creepy man with ears on his head rather than an Easter Bunny outfit. I wasn't 100% on board with this idea but decided we could do both the costume and the man and see which we liked better. The costume came with the ears too so this is at no additional expense.

Kevin Gebhard
Would be perfect for the creepy Easter Bunny.

Now I needed to post an ad for a creepy-looking man with facial hair to use as a model. This didn't come as easily as the barber. After 4 days of submissions I think I have my man. What do you think? I will most likely book him on Tuesday when I get back to the office. The last few things I need to do before the shoot are: make compositional sketches; book hair and makeup; organize the fine details; and make it all happen. I will post a follow-up under Easter Promotional, Part II.