It all started with a text message.
Adrian Rios, 33, was contacted in mid-January about directing a shoot for a Dr. Pepper campaign that would feature the quarterback from the College Football Playoff national championship-winning team.
Rios has worked as a creative director for the past eight years and has been contracted to direct upwards of 500 shoots in his career. But this one felt different. Not only would it include a quick turnaround — game on Jan. 20, fly to a filming location on Jan 21, shoot on Jan. 22 — but the individual they would be working with remained up in the air less than a week away from the shoot.
"In the beginning stages, we didn't know exactly who we were going to be shooting with because it depended on who the winner was," Rios said. "We also had an idea for both quarterbacks, but we had no idea if they would be OK with it."
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The idea, which originated from a group of individuals, including members of Dr. Pepper's brand marketing team and Jake Korman, who works for Dr. Pepper's NIL partner, VaynerSports, was to shoot a fun, laugh-out-loud social campaign that was inspired by the 2001 hit comedy movie, "Zoolander."
"When he (Korman) approached me with the idea, I loved what he brought to the table," Rios said. "So, then it was up to me to set up the shots and really bring it all to life."
Fast-forward to Monday night where Ryan Day and the Ohio State Buckeyes hoisted the CFP National Championship trophy after defeating Notre Dame, 34-23, securing the program's first title in a decade. That meant it would be OSU QB Will Howard who would be the subject of Dr. Pepper's post-national championship social campaign, which turned out to be an even better fit than the brand envisioned.
"After watching Will lead Ohio State to victory, we knew working with him was the perfect way to close out an incredible season — especially knowing he's been a lifelong Dr Pepper fan," said Derek Dabrowski, Dr. Pepper's SVP of Brand Marketing.
And for Rios, who is based in Arizona, that meant flying out to Columbus, Ohio to shoot a video that ended up taking social media by storm this past week. As of Wednesday morning, Howard's Instagram post of the video has over 51,000 likes and nearly 1,400 comments, many of which are from his Ohio State teammates.
Our team at FOX Sports caught up with Rios to talk to him about the shoot, working with Howard and how an idea that was brought to him via text message turned into a viral sensation.
As the director of this video, take me through your role during this shoot and explain exactly how this idea came about?
"I served as the director and Jake [Korman] at VaynerSports served as the point of contact. He had this idea of doing this fun, Zoolander-esq shoot. Thankfully, when we spoke to Will and his team, they loved the idea. Of course, with Will winning the championship, everything has been fun, but also very serious about recapping the season and about his play on the field. We wanted to take that time to just have fun and unwind a little bit."
Will's Ohio State teammates took to social media and poked fun of him for this. As a director, is that something you invite and say, "the more comments the better?"
"Yes. The video did exactly what we thought it was going to do. His whole team was roasting him in the comments. At the end of the day, we knew what it was going to do on social media, and we knew that the comments were going to be outrageous because it's an outrageous, kind of funny, goofy video.
"I don't want to say that it was ‘out of character' for Will because he has a great personality, but you don't really see that on social media, especially after winning the national championship. That was the cool part about it, we knew it was going to open up the comments section, whether it was positive or negative. It was something where we were having fun. Will was up for it and a great sport, and he was very easy to work with. It was a fun shoot."
Will is a very even-keeled individual. This shows a fun side to him that the average fan doesn't see on TV. When you first spoke to him about this, did you get the feeling it might be tough to get him to buy in, or did you know right away this would work?
"Jake [Korman] talked to him first and told me he was up for it. You hear that, but you don't really know for sure until you start shooting. So, from the moment I met Will and told him the idea, he was already laughing and excited for it. He loved the idea, and after that, it was kind of natural.
"I think fans seeing that side of him humanizes him a little more and is relatable because we're all goofy sometimes. If you have the type of personality, you want to feel normal, and I think this was just one of those moments where he really felt normal."
Was there any moment during the shoot where you and your team needed to really push to get something out of him?
"Not really. From the jump, he was excited about it. We filmed the test shot before and showed Will because we wanted him to see the idea as opposed to just hearing it. So, from that moment he was locked in. He loved it."
How many takes did this take?
"To be honest, half of the videos are us laughing and trying to get through the take. It's a couple. We don't want him to be so serious, but also don't want him to just keep bursting out laughing. There were some times when it was just too funny and he broke character. It was a handful of takes, but it wasn't too many to the point where we were wasting time."
Was there a moment where he laughed the hardest and you really had to reel him in?
"When we were trying to do the Dr. Pepper sips, there was a waterfall shot, and we just kept messing that up because it was getting all over him. The other shot was the shot with the wink. We had some issues with the jacket as well … wardrobe malfunction. Those three instances were the funniest."
When it was all said and done, did you have any idea this would be a viral video and have the success it has had?
"When you go into these types of projects, you go in thinking you want to create something different. There was going to be a lot of the same type of content that week, but we wanted to do something different, fresh and have fun with it. Of course, we wanted it to go viral, but that can go one way or another. Thankfully, it went in our favor and we hit the goals we wanted to hit. Actually, I think it exceeded our goals. The type of engagement it received was amazing.
"The moment I think we realized it was going to be successful was when me and John [Johnson], our director of photography, left the studio and went back to the hotel and started editing right then and there. We started putting the first 15 seconds together, and when we did that first zoom shot with the wink, we knew this was going to be funny. The project just kind of flowed after that, and we knew it was going to be special."
There were a ton of comments, but one that stood out was a comment from Ryan Day's son, RJ, who got in the action saying, "this video sums you up as a person perfectly," referring to Will. After getting to know Will, do you agree with that?
"Yes. He's a lot of fun to work with and is definitely a guy that I could see myself hanging out with. He has a great personality. I spent an hour or so with him, and just from that interaction and working with him, it felt like we've been working together for a while. That's always the type of energy that you want when walking onto a set and working with someone for the first time."
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