How Tim K Put California Almonds into Prime Time with Help from Deion Sanders

Whatever your morning routine, it can’t be as epic as that of Coach Prime. After all, how could it?! Deion Sanders is the only athlete to have played in a Super Bowl and a World Series, and has since coached Jacksonville State University to their first-ever unbeaten regular season. Oh, and his tenure as the coach of University of Colorado has begun with two epic wins over football powerhouses - already doubling their win total from the previous year. Whatever Sanders is doing to stay in his Prime, there’s no doubting that it works. 

But the secret, according to a head-turning new campaign for California Almonds, might surprise you. In a new set of spots directed by Bob Industries’ Tim K, Coach Prime reveals that it’s almonds which help him reach his near-superhuman best every day. It’s a message delivered with Sanders’ now-trademark charisma, and in immaculately-produced settings which hide a few almond-themed easter eggs for attentive viewers. 

To learn more about the campaign and go behind the scenes of the snappy and out-of-the-box spots, LBB caught up with Tim K… 

LBB> Tim, what was the original brief for the ad and how did you respond? 

Tim> Growing up in Dallas means that anything starring the legend known as Prime is going to get my attention - so naturally receiving this brief was very exciting. Coach Prime has starred in plenty of great commercials over the years, so I was confident that SRG had found a great spokesperson for California Almonds and I was immediately ready to jump in and help them fine tune their vision for this campaign.

LBB> Did you have your own personal vision heading into the shoot, and how closely does the finished ad align with it?

Tim> As always, a director needs to bring his own style and vision to a project while also being able to support and further develop what the agency has spent months pitching and fine-tuning with their client. Happily, that ideal was really fleshed out on this shoot. 

Along with my epic production designer and DP, Richard Lasalle and Tom Banks respectively, we worked hard to elevate the almond themes and bring in extra pops of visual fun in every way that we could. Because of our extensive prep and very precise storyboarding, the finished ad aligns almost exactly with what we scheduled and planned. It even allowed us to get Deion out of there on-time!

LBB> Deion is great in the ad - what was it like working with him, and did you have any particular methods to get the best performance from him?

Tim> Deion was a champion on the shoot day and even though our time and schedule was tight, he always turned it on and delivered a great performance when the cameras were rolling. I worked with the agency beforehand to make sure the dialogue and camera shots were right, so that when Prime was on set we could just let him flourish and bring all the energy and charisma that he’s famous for.

LBB> We love the comedic elements from the script, and all the almonds hidden in the props. How did you work to make the generally unfunny subject matter - almonds - funny?

Tim> The agency did a great job with the script. We all wanted a spot that was a bit over the top visually, whilst still allowing Deion to be himself. My team worked hard to bring as much fun and energy to the design of our shots and sets as possible, so that the spot would still have energy and a visual humour that would lure in the audience.  

My legendary production designer, Richard LaSalle, designed all the custom almond artwork and props and was instrumental in helping us find the perfect look for the spot.

LBB> Did you face any interesting challenges during production? How did you overcome them?

Tim> Shooting with celebrities always brings logistical challenges and puts a crunch on the schedule, but me and my department heads have been around this block before so we were very much prepared for the shoot day. 

Having a full pre-light day and an extensive tech scout, where every frame and camera move was locked in, enabled us to be 85-90% ready every time we moved to the next set-up so that there wasn’t any wasted time with Deion. Luckily we found a location in Boulder, with some very lovely and flexible homeowners, that enabled us to move and mould the house to our needs.

LBB> How did that location-scouting process for the home in Boulder work?

Tim> When shooting a high-concept idea that has a lot of logistical specificity, it can be very difficult to find a location that checks every box. That’s when you have to start squinting to see how you can find every shot that you need within a single home location. Luckily we found a beautiful home, with very flexible owners, because to make our shoot work we had to come in on the pre-light day and make the space our own.  

We turned the living room into Deion’s bedroom, removed all the counter plumbing from the kitchen island, removed hanging lights, brought in a wall plug in the basement and painted and tweaked everywhere we went!  All the respect and appreciation to my legendary production designer and his crew for making this crazy shoot come to life!

LBB> And how does the ad reflect the kind of work that Bob Industries can do? 

Tim> Bob Industries is a legendary shop in the comedy ad space, and has been operating and crushing the game for many years and I’m so pleased to be on their roster.  

Visually arresting and hilarious work is squarely in their wheelhouse and T. K. Knowles and John O’Grady, the EP’s and owners, are the most supportive and encouraging partners that a guy could ask for. We want to keep pushing into the comedy space and find projects that not only interest us, but allow us to align with the best agency work that’s being produced.  

LBB> Finally, nobody can hope to match Prime himself. But how do you ensure you’re feeling in your prime as often as possible? Any tips for our readers?!

Tim> Honestly, staying in my prime means bringing on the right crew and working with the best people I can find so that every facet of the production is elevated. My long time producer, Nathaniel Greene, is the captain and we’ve pulled off some amazing shoots over the years. My DP, Tom Banks, is a legend who can always deliver and as I’ve mentioned before my Production Designer, Richard LaSalle, is the man that always has a good idea and the right solution. And if I don’t have my usual team around me I stay in my prime with cigarettes and tequila.