
blacklock
we helped london chop houses blacklock with their new visual direction and connect with their audience.
If you know your chops, you know Blacklock, a beautiful group of restaurants throughout London and Manchester that serve premium, ethically-sourced cuts and innovative dishes.
the challenge.
After a brand refresh by the pros over at &Smith, Blacklock needed to take a new approach to their photography and move towards visuals which represented their new brand values.
Blacklock is about togetherness, of being in the moment with one another eating great food in a cool place. They needed their audience to instantly get this feeling as soon as they saw a Blacklock shot - whether that’s in press, on social, a website or beyond.
What’s more, we needed to find a unity across the brand whilst bringing-through the individuality in each restaurant. The venues had challenging lighting so we needed to find a lighting style which worked across the group.
Finally, we had an overarching appreciation of Blacklock being a busy set of restaurants. Staff are time-poor and will always focus on the next service and the customer experience - any new production would need to create work whilst causing minimal disruption.
HOW WE MADE IT WORK.
After the initial shoot working with &Smith, we took the learnings and started evolving a photographic approach across our shoots. We established some key principles:-
Put Production in place and work closely with the client to ensure the kitchen, front of house and the photography team are all in-sync. This meant we could schedule shoots appropriately and ensure we get everything we need on the shot list.
Use a smart approach to lighting to bring through the moodier, intimate side of the Blacklock restaurants whilst keeping things defined, visible and consistent. We made smart setups too so we could stay agile and move a setup quickly or tear-down easily if Service was approaching
Carve our specific stylistic approaches for each type of shot; e.g. food shots for Press/Media are shot in the context of a meal but without people
Set the tone on set so everyone involved are having enjoyable moments and interactions feel organic. Give some cues but allow people to engage naturally and capture what unfolds
Highlight the people of Blacklock; not just the customers, but the team behind every meal
Look ahead and plan for what’s next - a menu change, a seasonal campaign and beyond
Build-in evolution through allowing time to experiment and finding new ways to make the restaurant and the brand’s life easier
Services Used.
Photography / Production
Post-Production
The Impact.
67% increase in image engagement compared to previous imagery and UGC • Coherent range of images across multiple applications • 100% Shot List capture • Zero instances of shoot overrun • High staff engagement with productions
“Working with the team has been fantastic. The whole team has this real natural ability to respect the restaurants and the kitchens - they always know where to be or not be, and capture those important moments.”
Julie-Anne Pugh, Blacklock