Nivea Brings Out Players Personalities in Energetic Spots

A different direction from previous work for Nivea which trod the traditional men’s grooming route. Director Matt Huntley wanted to add a little more energy and humour, try to bring out the players’ personalities and make them more relatable.

Matt explains more about the work: “The original brief was to create a morning routine for each of the four Liverpool players (Roberto Firmino, Thiago Alcantara, Sadio Mane, Trent Alexander-Arnold).The films needed to be fast paced and energetic, trying to cram as much into the short duration as possible. We decided to push the convention of the ‘guy shaves in a mirror’ and add high speed macro photography product shots; so we track over the Nivea bottle as it pours and down with the liquid splashing into the palm, or tracking with the gel squirting into the hand.. Each shot being made to feel bigger and more epic than it is. It is an approach that seemed to fit the brief of introducing more humour and personality. The films were released in June to coincide with the Euros.”

“We actually shot back in March under strict Covid regulations so production was definitely more strenuous than in normal times. All four players were shot separately over one day at Anfield’s green screen studio with everyone agency/production/client attending remotely. Because of the obvious dangers to anyone in the LFC bubble, we could only have the DP attend in person to light and set camera. The operating would have to be done by a member of the LFC media crew.” 

“All product shots were finished over two days at Dukes Island with everything being achieved in camera using a variety of rigs and predominantly the LAOWA Probe."

“Originally the scripts were more expansive, seeing a bigger overview of the morning routine (eating, dressing, etc). The initial idea was to shoot it like an Edgar Wright movie with a lot of crash zooms and whip pans. As it developed we realised that we needed to see more of the product and so that approach was eschewed in favour of the macro photography.”