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Harnessing the power of Profoto Eclipse, the TOMS studio team has transformed their time-to-market from days to mere hours, revolutionizing their content creation process. Established in 2006 with a mission of using business to improve lives, TOMS has evolved from a startup into a global entity offering a wide range of shoe styles, eyewear, and accessories. The studio team captures approximately 1,200 products annually, covering Women’s, Men’s, and Kid’s styles.
We talked to Amy Smith, Chief Brand and Impact Officer at TOMS, about solving content challenges, staying flexible, and how the team reduced their turnaround time from days to hours.
“We were able to get production up and running pretty soon after the training session was complete, and we can already see the value of increased flexibility and responsiveness the Profoto system affords us.”
Eclipse reshapes TOMS studio workflow and eliminates costly challenges
“Before moving our PDP production to the Profoto Eclipse, we were facing a myriad of content challenges and exorbitant costs associated with producing this content,” explains Amy. The team's reliance on an external production company for content capture led to an expensive and time-consuming workflow connected to logistical hurdles. Amy notes, "while the content produced reached high standards, it came with uncapped costs and logistical challenges that impacted the capacity of our production team, taking away from other strategic priorities for the brand.”
The team now shoots the entire TOMS e-commerce catalog using Profoto Eclipse, covering footwear for women, men, and kids, as well as a collection of eyewear and socks. Amy quantifies the scale of their production, stating, “In all, this equates to over 1,200 products and styles over the course of a calendar year.” The adoption of Profoto Eclipse marks a strategic move to enhance the quality of their content and streamline the production process, overcoming their previous challenges.
A seamless onboarding process enabled the team to get started quickly
Profoto automated systems enable photography novices and experts alike to create pro-quality content. Once the Eclipse system was installed in the company’s facilities, TOMS opted for a two-day training explaining the ins and outs of the solution and what it can offer. “This was extremely necessary and beneficial as the production leader of the Eclipse machine did not have an extensive photography background.” The training helped the team get the most out of the system and kickstart their content production immediately. “We were able to get production up and running pretty soon after the training session was complete,” says Amy. Currently, TOMS studio production has been running smoothly, “but if a problem should arise, I have full confidence in the support based on previous experience with the onboarding process.”
Redefining flexibility and taking control over their content creation
“I think the noun that most captures our investment in the Profoto Eclipse is flexibility,” explains Amy when asked about the decision to invest in Profoto systems. “Flexibility is one of the greatest mitigators of costs. It allows your company to operate content production from a standpoint of leverage, as we are no longer bound to the processes and costs of an external vendor.” The studio team now has complete control over their content creation, enabling an agile approach: “This allows us the freedom to shoot a product how we want, when we want, and in the timeframe we want.”
Being fully in control over their content creation yields several benefits for the team, from flexible content creation to saving time and resources: “It allows us to have ownership of the production and the flexibility to capture things as we need. It also sped up production time as what once took days to shoot 50 styles now takes hours and cuts the crew from five people to one.”
“What once took days to shoot 50 styles now takes hours and cuts the crew from five people to one.”
From external dependencies to seamless integration with Profoto and Pixelz
The TOMS team previously relied on external vendors to complete their content creation process. Amy explains, “This hampered our workflow as each department of the TOMS team had to adapt to the production timeline of that vendor.” Now, with the production back in their hands, the team can focus on using that reclaimed time to create exceptional content for their channels. “It took a lot of human power and time to organize, package, and ship hundreds of styles of shoes to another location, and subsequently manifested a similar workload when those samples needed to be brought back to headquarters.”
Streamlining their workflow from beginning to end, TOMS decided to take advantage of the post-production integration with our editing partners, which is accessible within the export panel of our automated systems. “We have adopted Pixelz, the retouching partner of Profoto, for all our retouching needs.” Leveraging this seamless integration, the studio team can now send their content selection directly from Eclipse and receive ready-to-upload images and videos within hours, streamlining their workflow from beginning to end.
Exploring the creative possibilities of Profoto Eclipse
“We have only scratched the surface of what we think the Profoto Eclipse machine can do,” ponders Amy. Currently only utilized for e-commerce content creation, the team recognizes the creative flexibility the system can offer. Amy affirms, “We realize the capabilities of the machine grow far greater than just your standard PDP imagery.” In line with their evolution, the TOMS team is currently upgrading their e-commerce platform. Amy details, “As we shift to a new online e-commerce platform allowing us greater usage of embedded video, we intend on integrating Profoto’s video templates into our creative content.” The team eagerly anticipates future updates, fostering excitement about the possibilities ahead. Amy concludes, “We’re excited about any new updates that may come from the Profoto team down the road.”
