From one shoot to every listing, planning an ecommerce product shoot.
A product shoot is the most expensive day in most ecommerce plans, and the one most often reshot. Plan it product by product and channel by channel and one shoot can feed Amazon, every retailer and social at once. Here's how we planned Hoover's.
The brief
Hoover needed new photography and film for 15 vacuum cleaners, from cordless sticks and uprights to cylinders, a robot and a wet and dry floor washer. Its existing imagery felt dark and sterile and didn't look like the homes of the 20 to 40 year olds it wanted to reach. The brief asked for more colour, a lived in feel and more dynamic angles.
It also needed to cover everything. Product films for the website and Amazon, lifestyle images, detail shots and the content for every product page.
1. Start with every asset you need
We planned the shoot product by product in a shot matrix. Every row is a product, every column an asset, from the hero film to the A+ panels and the social cut. It turns a creative idea into a schedule, and it's how a single shoot can feed every channel.
2. Find a real home
To get away from sterile, we shot in a London family home. Real rooms, real light and real clutter give lifestyle images a warmth that's hard to build on a set. We added colour through set design, props and wardrobe, chosen to suit the audience.
3. Test the product before shoot day
Vacuum cleaners have to be shown cleaning, and mess behaves badly on camera. Before filming we tested debris on every machine to find the cereal, coffee and crumbs that picked up cleanly on camera and could be reset quickly between takes.
4. Film and stills, side by side
A film crew and a stills team worked together for five days, each following the shot matrix. Sharing the location, the talent and the sets costs far less than a second shoot, and keeps the films and the photographs looking like one campaign.
5. Shoot to every specification
Each retailer has its own rules for image size, background, framing and text. We frame with every one in mind, so the same shot can be a main image, a lifestyle tile and an A+ banner without losing the product.
6. Turn the shoot into ecommerce
The shoot is only half the job. For every product we wrote search led titles and listing copy, then designed the image stack above the fold and the A+ content below it, for desktop and mobile. Then we reformatted it all for Argos and other retailers. More than 120 retouched lifestyle images came out of the five days.
- Plan every product against every asset in a shot matrix
- Shoot lifestyle in a real home if the brief calls for warmth
- Test the product before the day
- Run film and stills together, then build the listings from the shoot
The result
Hoover's sales rose 30%, and the content now runs across its website, Amazon and other retailers. We're taking the same work into Amazon DSP advertising and retailer campaigns. On another 25 product shoot over five days, the new Amazon content suite lifted conversion by 33%.
Read the Hoover case study, or see what our live production team can plan for your range.
Sources
- Amazon DSP, Amazon Ads
Questions clients ask us.
What is a shot matrix?
A shot matrix lists every product against every asset a shoot has to deliver, such as the hero film, lifestyle images, detail shots, the Amazon image stack, A+ panels and social cuts. It makes sure nothing is missed on the day and nothing has to be reshot.
How many products can you shoot in a day?
It depends on how many assets each one needs. For Hoover we shot 15 products over five days, with a film crew and a stills team working side by side, and delivered product films and more than 120 retouched lifestyle images.
Should ecommerce images be shot on location or in a studio?
Both have a place. A real location gives lifestyle images a lived in feel that a set struggles to match, while a studio gives you control for packshots and details. Many of our shoots use both.
Can one shoot cover Amazon and other retailers?
Yes, if you plan for each retailer's specifications from the start. We shoot with every format in mind, then design the Amazon image stack and A+ content and reformat it all for retailers such as Argos.
More from the Resource Centre.
Amazon A+ content that sells, and what we changed for Feliway.
How we plan A+ content and the image stack above it, from search research to testing, with the changes that doubled Feliway's monthly sales.
UGC that works on Amazon and social, from brief to final cut.
How we brief, cast and cut UGC for TikTok, Reels and Amazon, with rights agreed first and versions for organic and paid.
How we score Amazon images before shoppers ever see them.
The five measures behind our neural marketing framework, what each one tests and how we use them to fix Amazon images before they go live.
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