Thor Industries Follows Influencers Who Live That RV Life
Since the 1980’s, Thor industries has been the go-to brand for RV enthusiasts all over America. To this day, they continue to build innovative and luxurious RV’s. Holding firm their place in the upper echelons of the industry. In fact, it would be safe to say that they’re the top contender in the RV realm. After all, not only do they make their own RV’s, they also own a ton of brands in this space such as Keystone, Airstream & many more. And it doesn’t hurt that they produce content that people can identify with.
Recently Thor has developed an ongoing campaign that follows the stories behind family’s that traded their life in suburbia for a more adventurous life on the road. What Ambient liked most about this approach is the curated library of authentic stories they have been able to build up over time. They loved how Thor not only tells the story via video content, but they also write informational articles as an ongoing topic for their Blog.
Check out these 3 stories!
https://www.thorindustries.com/stories/hungry-inspiration
https://www.thorindustries.com/stories/why-i-rv-comfort-zones
https://www.thorindustries.com/stories/our-magical-year-of-rving
ROAD TRIPPERS AND AMBIENT SKIES TEAM UP TO PRODUCE CONTENT
Now when you pair well produced, docu-style vignettes, with real customers that have that candid authenticity and charming personalities, you have the bulk of what is needed to walk away with compelling content that exceeds client expectations.
For Ambient’s part of the ongoing series, they lucked out with the talent! THOR chose to follow the “Parents Unleashed” couple, Robin and Warren Baxter, to the desert to see how they spend their time in Arizona for a few months out of the year.
It was important for the team at RoadTrippers to see relevance in our work when choosing the right production partner. Thankfully, Ambient had just wrapped up a docu-style video featuring influencers for Ford Motor Company. They also had some RV beauty shots in their Reel from a past shoot with La Mesa RV. Largely based on this relevancy, Thor and RoadTrippers felt that AmbientSkies would make the best production partner.
Working together in pre-production, they ironed out the logistics and the beats of the story were defined. To iron out some of those logistics, the Ambient team spent multiple days scouting. They focused on the large amount of land surrounding Bartlett Lake. As well as the campground chosen by the agency via the Hipcamp app. But they had their work cut out for them.
During pre production, the team at RoadTrippers had a lot of details such as talent, desired sound bytes & shotlist ironed out, but they were really relying on the Ambient team to provide everyone with the proper direction on set, especially to make the talent feel as comfortable as possible to deliver an authentic performance.
To do this, they broke the ice with The Baxters in a pre production Zoom call. In the call everyone had a chance to start building rapport. It was the team’s hope to capture stunning scenic visuals of the Baxters driving their toy hauler in the Desert. It was vital that they chose their “Camp” location through Thor’s partner and app Hipcamp. So the team honed in on a location in New River, Arizona.
This allowed us to spend day 1 of a 2 day production out at Bartlett lake where the team has extensive experience capturing Aerials & Car to Car type shots. Bartlett lake is one of the best spots in Arizona for this. The views are jaw dropping, but the traffic is also low with a few Multi-Lane roads. That made car-to-car capture much more controlled and safe.
In other beautiful lake areas like Saguaro Lake or Canyon Lake, you’re up against heavily trafficked areas that only have 2 one way lanes and it requires an extra layer of ITC to shut down and manage the road. They’ve done this a bunch out at Roosevelt Lake which requires a ton more logistical and safety precautions. With all that, they lucked out with perfect weather on an early Spring day in the Desert where everything was in bloom and hiking and other popular outdoor recreation sports were in full effect.
Check out some of the awesome still photo moments they captured out at Bartlett on day 1.
For location 2, They found the campsite location through the Hipcamp app. Unfortunately it was surrounded by telephone wires and other obstructions on the neighbors property that were not ideal. The property location photos were spot on when viewing online, but that’s how it always is on sites like AirBNB. But when you arrive at the location, it’s not always the case. It took strategically placing the RV to avoid as many undesirable elements as possible. The team was also prepared to digitally composite out any obstructions that were unavoidable.
CAPTURING LIFE ON THE ROAD
A full production crew was assembled to spend 3 jam-packed days following the Baxter family around. From Bartlett Lake and the surrounding hiking trails to their home base in New River. Taking a run n’ gun approach was key. Ambient was able to gather a truckload of content and document their lifestyle on the road in their RV as they let loose and linked up with their children and grandchildren.
Don’t get it confused, although the crew was moving quickly, they busted out the big toys. They put drones in the air, shot car to car on the highway and utilized gimbals and dollies to give the content a polished professional touch.
They wrapped production and moved quickly into post to meet their fast approaching deadline. Our creative director worked closely with RoadTrippers creative lead in post production. It took multiple rounds back and forth dialing in the edits. We hit the nail on the head and handed over the deliverables just in time for them to go live with the material.
Check out their stories below!
MEET THE BAXTERS
Recognized by their infamous “Parents Unleashed” hashtag on social media. The Baxter’s are a retired couple in the RV community that have traded in their stationary home for life on the road.
Recently upgraded to a Keystone Fuzion Toy Hauler equipped with all of the bells and whistles. This couple enjoys a plentiful life of adventure on the road. Just the two of them. Happily making their rounds across the country traveling to all of the places they’d ever dreamed of visiting. And doing it on their terms.
Not skipping a beat, these two know what they want out of life. They’ve given their RV some DIY treatment to make this portable home feel as cozy as any track home.
CLOSE TO FAMILY
For the Baxters, family is everything and they make sure that their new lifestyle on the road doesn’t interfere with the time they get to spend with their family. For them they choose quality over quantity and believe that less is truly more if you plan it right.
The precious time they do spend with their two sons, daughter in-law and grandchildren, is of the utmost quality and it’s about making long-lasting memories that stand the test of time. From simple activities like outdoor barbecuing to more extravagant activities like paddle boarding famous lakes, this family loves the outdoors.
With plenty of room to house the children when they visit, everyone gets to experience life on the road and it sets a more unconventional and adventurous bar for their children to follow in their future when it comes to retirement.
And voila! Be sure to head over to Thor’s website to read the final written article and how it pairs together with the final edited videos our team had so much fun producing!
https://www.thorindustries.com/stories/our-rv-doors-are-always-open
https://www.thorindustries.com/stories/why-we-rv-to-be-closer-to-family
