Reponses by Brian Bennett, VP brand creative/executive producer, Carhartt and Pam Thomas, director, Community Films
Background: We told this story with real hard-working women we call our friends, women who work and live the Carhartt way of life. Moms who inspired us all year long. This was an ode to them. We were honest in pursuing their story. We wanted to hear their struggles as well as their joys. These Moms gave us both. To the moms who work the shift that never ends, we thank you.
Brian also dedicates an ode to his own mom, “To my mom, who was a single mom at 20, waitressing, working in real estate to help me—you were the original hustler I learned from. I was proud to see you in the women we filmed. I turned to you to help me throughout the pandemic. We saw Moms never back down during this pandemic, and I was lucky to see it my mom as well as my wife. It’s hard not to write this spot when you watch your wife work while homeschooling three kids. Moms have crushed it this year.”
Reasoning: We have a joke at Carhartt: Don’t get moms Carhartt workwear for Mother’s Day. It’s like buying her a vacuum; you’re saying, “Get to work.” So instead, on Mother’s Day, just tell her, “Thanks, Mom.” Give her a hand with something. Because Mother’s Day shouldn’t be a day of half off sales before summer, or a day to buy expensive roses. That’s our message: Let them rest, help them out. Give ’em a hug.
Challenges: Finding the right director. It would have been cliché to pick a mom to direct it and, on the other hand, we would have been idiots not too. But Pam works like a mom with a creative’s touch. She fit in right away. These moms all trusted Pam, and it was amazing to watch her connect. We didn’t use actors; we used real people, so it was funny when Pam said it was the best casting she’s ever had. Pam was the mom this project couldn’t live without.
Favorite details: The process. Casting real women and their families was critical to making the spot authentic. We loved being able to create a safe supportive space for these real-life moms and their kids to be in the moment, and we are truly awed by how vulnerable they allowed themselves to be and how lucky we were to be able to capture that.
Visual influences: We wanted the one-minute film “The Shift That Never Ends” to feel captured—not in a voyeuristic way but in a more-visceral way. As if we walked into someone’s home or life and sat down at their table. Oliver Lanzenberg, the amazing director of photography, and Pam talked a lot about treading lightly, getting inspired by time of day, and not overthinking or over-lighting. He did an incredible job of doing just that.
Anything new: We learned that no matter how much we plan, it’s about finding the magic between what’s planned and being open and to really explore. For example, we asked the boys to join mom on the bed, but we didn’t know they were going to go wild and jump on her. Fortunately, as a mom of boys, she took it in stride, and we got an unexpected moment that amplified her exhaustion. And then when they stopped, we got a beautiful moment where they all sat still together. We had a plan, but what happened went beyond our expectations.