Nike Takes Over Conquent

One of the nice things about having a cool space for an office is the fact that Nike wants it in their advertising. I mean, I'm sure they have their own cool spaces, but a 1940s bungalow set against an early 1900's bridge, nestled between a restaurant and row houses… Let's just say that sometimes the Knight has to come to the castle.

We were visited by a Weiden+Kennedy subcontractor a week or so ago who had apparently been scouting the area for an urban mix of old architecture in the city. They're putting together a viral campaign with some video footage -- they didn't tell me much, beyond offering to compensate Conquent for the time they would be on the property and to get some release forms.

Somehow I had gotten the impression they would be setting up a long shot for some kind of time lapse photo. But instead, at 6:00 this afternoon, three unmarked white vans and a large rental panel truck all showed up in front of the office.

People jumped out and started setting up cones to close off the street while others hauling equipment all over the place with lots of handheld radio chatter and stressed movement. It's the kind of scene that, in the movies, is usually followed up with either a large explosion or an alien running for the cover of the bushes.

Of course, six o'clock is about the time we usually get out of the office. I was in the unusual position of having gone home for lunch and ridden my bicycle back to the office, somehow forgetting my shoes. This left me walking barefoot and without a jacket around all the hubbub as filming started. Fortunately I did pack my panniers with street clothes, otherwise I might have been mistaken for the alien heading for the bushes.

Five or six athletic looking guys kept running back and forth in front of the office, with some director on the bridge on the other side of our parking area running direction through the radios. We were able to sneak out in between the athletic guys just as the athletic women showed up, which is as much a testament to bad timing as to just how hard it was to work around having your property turned into a film set (you don't exactly say, 'Oh, wait, babes… We'll go later,' after you've brought the entire filming to a halt so you can get your car out…)

Ah well, just another day at Conquent.