Production in the Peach State: How HONE Became Atlanta’s Number One Content Partner
Atlanta is one of the most popular production destinations in the US, with teams across creative industries flocking to the Hollywood of the South to produce their next project. In addition to these visitors, Atlanta is also home to well known North American brands such as The Coca Cola Company, UPS, Delta Air Lines and Home Depot, as well as agencies like Fitz Co and Chemistry. There is no end to the conveyor belt of productions benefiting from HONE’s wide-reaching expertise.
On-call to assist both creative and production teams, HONE offers distinct solutions to fit specific client needs and uses. Working with the biggest agencies and brands in the state capital, the full-service agency’s agile and strategic approach allows them to jump in at any stage - from initial briefing to final delivery - to ensure the smooth-sailing of any creative process.
In 2023, HONE’s lean team of experts have worked on a myriad of exciting Atlanta-based projects for national and international brand campaigns. One stand out project came from Coca Cola, who called on HONE to produce a fresh content library of beverage products - from scratch.
Putting their deep experience with food and beverage into practice, HONE facilitated a series of stills shoots capturing key Coca Cola products - some for the first time ever - for use across all sorts of marketing materials. Brought in at the beginning of the process, the team applied their production-first mindset to the task at hand, taking the lead on concepting occasional moments, while also plotting out how to cover 10 beauty tabletop shots including liquid-centric images.
Reflecting on the project, Kathryn Dronzek Williams, senior manager, shopper at Coca Cola, tells LBB how HONE expertly utilised Atlanta’s hub of first-rate creatives to achieve flawless execution of the brief. “The work HONE puts out is fueled by some of the best in the business - experts in production, photography, design, editing etc. - which allows them to bring forward amazing creative. The team took our complicated, broad ask and helped build creative concepts that were actionable and captured beautifully through an efficient production plan.”
Overjoyed with the collaboration, Coca Cola remarked on how dexterous HONE's capabilities proved to be: “The team’s ability to stay focused on the business needs enabled them to excel, delivering the project with ease.”
Photo credit: Erkan Cetin
HONE’s problem solving capabilities were also sought out by Atlanta-based 2022 Small Agency of the Year by Ad Age, Fitz Co, for another nationally rolled-out campaign. The ambitious commercial spot would feature multiple locations which required special care and attention, leading them to HONE.
Engaging HONE as the production company for their client, Southern Company, Fitz Co leveraged their own in-house creative resources to save cost and maximise brand knowledge by asking their internal creative director to direct the campaign. “HONE was integral in helping Fitzco defy the conventional wisdom that agency directors are only for low-budget or ‘content’ shoots,” says David Berngartt, director of production at Fitz Co. “Their flexibility and experience allows us to scale the right people to tackle any job.”
The agency looked to HONE to help navigate the considerable obstacles that came from shooting at these unique locations. “We needed to capture a lot of very technically-demanding FPV drone footage at an active nuclear power station for this shoot, so we needed a very experienced production team because there was zero room for error,” explains David.
From working with the staff on the ground at the plant, to coordinating the logistics and extra security steps necessary for shooting at (and inside) the active nuclear reactor site, to collaborating with the drone team to capturing one-of-a-kind shots. This team effort resulted in the captivating 60’ spot, ‘Nuclear in Motion.’ “We couldn’t have captured such beautiful footage with a smooth process behind-the-scenes without HONE’s help.”
This summer, private, family-owned brand Edible reached out to HONE for help with executing social and digital assets leveraging a new look and feel. HONE provided strategic production planning, creative execution and oversight, lending its expertise in curating talent and flexing their rich rolodex to identify the perfect creative partner - Breakfast for Dinner out of Chicago - to bring the vision to life.
Briefed to visually communicate the high quality of Edible’s products and establish them as the premium option in their category, HONE's expertise in creative execution and strategic production planning played a pivotal role in helping the brand achieve this objective. The result was the creation of 16 key video stop motion assets that ultimately translated into a staggering 400+ assets tailored for digital and social use.
Evan Sheehan, creative director at Breakfast for Dinner reflects on HONE’s invaluable contribution to the project: “Bringing the brand up to date with a more current aesthetic that reflects the quality of their offerings felt very satisfying. The new look still allows their sense of humour to come through, though, which we feel is still a huge part of the brand.”
Despite their regional ties and roots in Atlanta, HONE’s presence is felt nationally and belongs on any reel anywhere in the country. As Atlanta content production continues to thrive, thanks to the buzzing creative arts and entertainment industries supported by studios, service companies and resilient infrastructure, HONE is proud to provide holistic production support to every variety of project that comes their way.
“From day one, HONE has benefited from the strong production resources we have in Atlanta,” says Matt Mattingly, co-head of Production and owner of HONE. “Our unique model is centred around building bespoke teams and utilising the most efficient path for content production to address our client’s business and creative needs. All of our clients benefit from HONE’s well established roots in an alternative production hub like Atlanta.”
