A while back, I showed a you a sneak preview of Steven Lippman‘s awesome “Icons of Aloha” campaign for California-based fashion brand Reef. With the ads making their official debut today, I wrote to the Reef team Steven worked with for some background on the project. Below is a quick Q&A with PJ Connell, Reef’s director of marketing. Steven also worked with Heath Walker, senior men’s marketing manager at Reef; Cody Welsh, art director at Reef; stylist Sophie Vilardo; and, of course, some of the biggest names on Hawaii’s surfing scene: Shane Dorian, Mick Fanning, Rob Machado, Taylor Knox, Alana Blanchard, Mikala Jones, Sean Moody, Stephen Koehne, and Ross Williams.
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Mick Fanning. Photo by Steven Lippman for Reef. Click to view larger.
Shane Dorian. Photo by Steven Lippman for Reef.
Taylor Knox. Photo by Steven Lippman for Reef.
Rob Machado. Photo by Steven Lippman for Reef.
Alana Blanchard. Photo by Steven Lippman for Reef.
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Stockland Martel Blog: What was the concept of the campaign?
PJ Connell: To feature Reef athletes who are iconic within Hawaiian surf culture—either born and raised through Hawaiian legends or earned respect as an iconic Hawaiian surf standout. Lastly, to bring the surfing’s world attention to the North Shore winter surf stage.
Why did you choose Steven to shoot the campaign?
Steven is a passionate surfer and photographer. It was an ideal combo. We like to work with people who care about what their doing, more than just another job. He brought a high level of experience, sophistication and passion, which was integral when working with athletes of this caliber.
Portraits were shot at Reef’s headquarters in San Diego. All action shots were gathered to ensure they were top-quality Hawaiian action shots, photos that speak to an iconic surfer. The portraits were done in a day—we jammed.
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Steven Lippman (third from right) with some of his iconic surfing subjects.
Stephen Koehne. Photo by Steven Lippman for Reef.
Mikala Jones. Photo by Steven Lippman for Reef.
Sean Moody. Photo by Steven Lippman for Reef.
Ross Williams. Photo by Steven Lippman for Reef.
Photo by Steven Lippman for Reef.
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How will the images be used? Print only? Outdoor?
The campaign has the following touch points: print, online and in-store through our core surf shop distribution. Weekly video segments will be put out of each featured surfer between November 12 and December 20 (North Shore Season). You can watch a new one every Monday during that time on reef.com or facebook.com/reef or through our media partner surfline.com.
How do you think the ads turned out?
We’re stoked. We’ve had nothing but good feedback, and we’re all fired up to go to Hawaii this year and live the Aloha.
One last thing: Any interesting anecdotes as you worked on the campaign?
Being respected in Hawaii justifies a title like “icon.” Without Hawaiian respect, that’s hard to justify. But who am I to say? What’s just my opinion. I live in San Diego and travel to Hawaii twice a year. Anything over 6 to 8 feet Hawaiian makes me poop my pants.
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