Creating Cat Footwear’s CODE Campaign in Mexico City

Client Needs to Save Time and Money but Wants an Exotic Production

In 2019, Cat Footwear approached our Mexican production company to create campaigns for two of their new shoe product lines. The timeline and budget dictated that we would have to consolidate two productions into a single location that could showcase the sporty Urban Trekking vibes of Advanced Walking Machines and the sleek, refined style of Cat’s CODE collection. By combining the shoots and producing them in a cost effective global location, we were able to shave 30% off Cat’s travel and production costs and deliver two world-class campaigns.

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Contact us or learn more here about our Mexico-based production company.

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Pre-Production

The WhereNext creative team proposed producing these campaigns in Mexico City. The Mexican capital is a booming megalopolis where ancient architecture mixes with contemporary restaurants and fashionable bars, where indigenous cultures rub shoulders with artists, entrepreneurs, office-goers, and musicians alike. Scouting was put in the hands of our Producer, fixer, and Mexico City native, Ulises Escamilla Haro, a former journalist who has worked all over Mexico for international media and brands since 2010. The result: champagne locations on a beer budget.

Beyond simply being cost-effective, filming in Mexico City is visually compelling. The population is culturally diverse and represents the ideal target audiences for both of Cat’s new product line. Our local crew quickly obtained the necessary filming permits and sourced stylists, hair and makeup specialists, and models. Our client approved all key elements of the production from their offices in Rockford, Michigan.

Casting Services

Local Connections Smooth the Way

Casting a foreign shoot comes with a variety of challenges, from the language barrier to regional working conventions and employment laws. We navigated all of these issues for Cat. and cast four young, dynamic urbanites from Mexico City whose lives matched the CODE brand's ethos. Our four protagonists don't fit the typical 9-5 working model; they're imaginative go-getters, as passionate about their side-hustle as their career, always with an eye on their next creative venture.

Finding the Perfect Cast

After an expedited audition process, we chose four professional actors and models, who each brought something different to the table that perfectly embodied the CODE collection brand spirit. Klaudia is a writer and yoga instructor who is currently working on a script for a series about climate change. Arena fills all of her free time with volleyball and ballet. Andres's side hustle is the bustling independent coffee shop he owns and operates in Mexico City's hip La Condesa neighborhood, and Yasu works as a Japanese teacher and professional gamer on his YouTube channel.

The theme for the campaign was a "day in the life" of our four protagonists. We wanted to highlight the fashion-forward functionality of the CODE collection and how effortlessly they bridge the gap between casual and professional.

Filming Locations in Mexico City

An Ideal Location to Match the Brand Spirit

We began the shoot in the fashionable La Condesa neighborhood, a pastel-walled dreamland of charming independent stores and gorgeous colonial architecture. It's also home to Espresso de Media Noche, the delightful little café owned by our protagonist Andres. It's an amiable hole-in-the-wall joint on the backstreets of Montes de Oca with a laid-back, unpretentious vibe and the best coffee in town. It's precisely the kind of place where a young professional works on their screenplay or plans their upcoming yoga class – an ideal starting point for the CODE campaign.

We filmed our other three characters strolling the leafy streets of Roma and La Condesa, and arriving at Espresso de Media Noche to link up with Andres. The four of them enjoyed a caffeinated pick-me-up, before hitting the streets of Mexico City.

Capturing the Energy of the Location

It was important to us to highlight the multi-functionality of the CODE collection, which are shoes equally as adapted to a La Condesa coffee shop's hipster vibes as to the modern streets and plazas of downtown Mexico City. So the next stop on our itinerary was Avenida de La Republica and Avenida Paseo de La Reforma. These neighborhoods perfectly embody the glorious commotion of contemporary Mexico City, where the old and new rub shoulders on every street corner and the dreams and hopes of millions oscillate to the chaotic rhythms of the capital.

We filmed our four young protagonists exploring the wide avenues and historical squares of downtown Mexico City in the Cat CODE shoes, interacting with passers-by, enjoying the local tourist attractions, and showcasing the versatility of the Cat product in the 'wild.' Mexico City was the ideal location for this production – the city's mixture of bohemian neighborhoods and cosmopolitan urban vibes is perfectly positioned to market such a multi-faceted shoe line.

Cost-Effective Productions in Mexico and Around the Globe

One-Stop Shopping

The production of these two Cat Footwear campaigns gave our client an opportunity to maximize their budget and still produce a world-class advertising campaign for two product lines. It gave us a chance to guide the Cat team to some of our favorite places in Mexico City, have a load of fun, and to showcase our inventiveness and agility. We planned and executed two complete campaigns, from zero to asset delivery, in just one month. We also procured stylists, hair and makeup specialists, and all of our actors within that time, and arranged for asset delivery of the Cat shoes to Mexico City. Cat benefitted from having a one-stop-shop for planning, shooting, and post-producing two separate shoe campaigns in a limited timeframe.

More for the Money

The entire project went off without a hitch. Cat received a full suite of video and still photography assets while saving 30% of their travel and production budget at the same time.

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