Here’s a look at two images from the campaign for Cosmopolitan—which made Condé Nast Traveler’s 2011 “Hot List” for top new hotels—plus some highlights of Nadav’s advertising photography, including campaigns for Hyundai, Cruzan rum, Absolut, Orbit, Nike, Farmers insurance, and Powerade.

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Photo by Nadav Kander for the Cosmopolitan Hotel. Click to view larger.

Photo by Nadav Kander for the Cosmopolitan Hotel.

Photo by Nadav Kander for Absolut.

Photo by Nadav Kander for Farmers.

Photo by Nadav Kander for Connoisseur.

Photo by Nadav Kander for BurJuman.

Photo by Nadav Kander for Powerade.

Photo by Nadav Kander for Cruzan rum.

Photo by Nadav Kander for St John Ambulance.

Photo by Nadav Kander for Orbit.

Photo by Nadav Kander for Hyundai.

Photo by Nadav Kander for Heal's.

Photo by Nadav Kander for Nike.

Photo by Nadav Kander for Dovobet.

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See more Nadav Kander here.

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Print ads for Travelers shot by John Offenbach.

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For the past five-plus years, John Offenbach has been shooting the print campaigns for Travelers Insurance, for Fallon in Minneapolis. It’s an ongoing collaboration that has garnered him numerous awards, including a Gold from Campaign magazine at the 2009 Campaign Photo Awards and first prize at the inaugural New York Photo Awards.

The work features humorous scenarios—for example, a waterslide that ends in concrete, a Ferrari submerged in a swimming pool, and a bear destroying a suburban kitchen. (The bear was real. You can watch a short film of the shoot at John’s website. Go to johnnoffenbach.com, click on Having Fun, and then Bear.)

The most recent set of ads are just as wry. Here, John and Fallon art buyer Kerri Jamison (Jason Hall was also an art buyer on the account, and the art directors were Scott O’Leary, Ben Stilitz, and Erin Wendel) talk about the latest campaign.
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"Husband-Wife Thieves in Garage." Photo by John Offenbach for Travelers and Fallon, Minneapolis. "We were thinking a little bit about Hans Holbein's painting of the Ambassadors," says John.

"Hole in the Wall." Photo by John Offenbach for Travelers and Fallon, Minneapolis.

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Kerri Jamison: A little background: In 2006, we were updating Travelers’ brand print and convinced the client we needed stronger photography in its print advertising—larger, more sophisticated and compelling images. To date, they had been using stock images that were placed like a postage stamp within the ads. John Offenbach was subsequently hired by Fallon to establish the new look.

Art Director Dean Hanson was drawn to Offenbach’s sophisticated images which combine high-key lighting with a minimal color palette. He felt this was in line with a premium insurance product targeted at a financially secure, educated audience. This marked the first time that Travelers commissioned new photography in its advertising.  Since then, John has shot upwards of 40 or 50 Travelers ads for its brand and line of business marketing efforts.

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John Offenbach: Travelers is one of my favorite clients, and this year sees us again having a lot of fun. These ads are always great to shoot. Lots of laughing on set.

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KJ: Over the past almost 5 years, numerous art directors have worked on the account, but John’s clean aesthetic and the sharp, clever wit between image and headline have been the consistent thread throughout. These new ads are really no different. “Hole in the Wall” and “Bank Accidents” were commissioned by the Community Banks sector at Travelers and are targeted at independent insurance agents who insure community banks, and also presidents of community banks; whereas, “Husband-Wife Thieves in Garage” is an ad about employee theft targeted at Risk Managers and independent agents.

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"Bank Accidents." Photo by John Offenbach for Travelers and Fallon, Minneapolis.

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JO: Shooting the “Hole in the Wall,” we had the set builder make a life-sized brick hole, with the background in perspective which we held against the real bank wall. It looked so convincing from the street that drivers were slowing down amazed to see if it was real!

The “Bank Accidents” too was loads of fun. Setting up all of these potential accidents, quite slapstick of course, it felt slightly like setting up a Charlie Chaplin, or Buster Keaton sequence. The icing on the cake…. if you look closely at the framed print of the Bank’s President, we shot his portrait with his arm in a sling!

The husband-and-wife team in the garage were fantastic casting. We wanted him to look really banal, as if you wouldn’t have guessed he was the type to be stealing stuff from the office. And we wanted her to look slightly dangerous, like she was the type of wife who was really pushing behind the scenes to get husband to steal more stuff. The original layout had them much more animated, unloading the trunk, but we decided on set it was far more effective to have them sit for a very formal portrait very proud with their loot. We were thinking a little bit about Hans Holbein’s painting of the Ambassadors.

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KJ: I have been lucky to be the main art buyer on the account since 2006, but unfortunately was not on set for these specific ads.  Shooting for weeks at a time can be heaven or hell. I have loved every moment working with John and his A-team (including producer Scott Davis and retoucher Rainer Usselmann). He is fantastic at figuring out when to pare down elements and when to pull back so that each image has room within it to let the communication unfold. He’s always up for the technical challenges—shooting an extremely large bear in a small kitchen, or directing talent overtop the loud hum of a printing press, or figuring out how to capture a Ferrari in a backyard pool without actually putting a real Ferrari in the pool. And he is sweet. What else can you ask for?

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Thank you, John and Kerri!

Here’s a further look at the 2010 Travelers campaign:

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Photo by John Offenbach for Travelers and Fallon, Minneapolis.

Photo by John Offenbach for Travelers and Fallon, Minneapolis.

Photo by John Offenbach for Travelers and Fallon, Minneapolis.

Photo by John Offenbach for Travelers and Fallon, Minneapolis.

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All photos by Nadav Kander for Fallon and Cruzan Rum.

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The ads were a significant change for Cruzan, Dave told me in an email interview. “The previous work was all about the bottle, nothing else,” he explained. For this creative departure, the agency chose to base the campaign on the rum’s home turf of St. Croix. “The brand has been a part of the St. Croix community for over 200 years,” Dave said. “It and the island are one.”

In fact, Communication Arts took note of this strategy in an article on the ads that came out when the campaign launched:

“In a world full of liquor brands without a history, the Legendary Rum of St. Croix campaign uses 240 years of island legends, heritage and imagery to remind consumers that Cruzan is an authentic, premium rum. The creative team steered clear of the expected rum imagery and instead created a mystique around the brand—keeping one foot in the past, and one in the present—that romanticizes the island’s long history of making and drinking rum.”

I asked Dave about how he and his team at Fallon chose the photographer. Was it a particular image of Nadav’s that clinched it?

“It’s not about a style of photography or a particular image,” he replied. “It’s about an understanding of what needs to be communicated—and Nadav is the best.”

I also asked him about what the shoot was like.

“Believe it or not, it was a lot of shoot-from-the-hip, guerrilla-style shooting,” he said. “We treated the shoot as an organic exploration, using the comps as guideposts.  Sounds laidback, but it is a producer’s nightmare. [Producer] Tom Mason is the best, and we needed the best. We shot a ton of great images, but only a few survived into the ads. All the talent was found on location.”
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The campaign’s first wave launched at a special Cruzan-branded Dave Matthews concert in West Palm Beach, along with print spreads and outdoor in South Florida and Southern California.

The ads may have been a success, but looking back, Dave can think of at least one thing he would have done differently.

“I would have left Nadav on the island alone for another week, and would have loved to see what he came up with,” he said. “He’s a fantastic collaborator, but his private work is amazing.”

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