A skier in a gold Lowdown helmet and red jacket carving through fresh snow, pines and a white peak behind

PHOTO & REELS · STRATEGY

Lowdown Helmets

A Colorado ski-helmet brand after a Black Friday that didn’t sell. We shot a day on the mountain and cut two reels that ran five times their average, and our main recommendation produced their best reels yet.

ClientLowdown Helmets — retro ski and snowboard helmets
LocationDesigned in Colorado, made in Italy
EngagementPhotography · two reels · strategy consulting
FormatOne shoot · a few strategy sessions · a written report
StatusShot February 2025 · engagement complete

5×

how the two reels we made performed against Lowdown’s average reel

2

reels cut from one shoot and finished within four days, February 2025

56

frames from the shoot: action on the mountain, portraits, and the helmets on their own

THE REELS

Two reels, made for the phone they’d play on.

Retro Helmet (14 seconds) and the second reel (15 seconds), finished February 25, 2025. Both ran at five times the performance of Lowdown’s average reel.

THE PROBLEM

A good helmet, after a Black Friday that didn’t sell

Lowdown makes retro-inspired ski and snowboard helmets, designed in Colorado and made by hand in Italy, certified to US and European safety standards. The product has a look you notice from across a lift line.

Lowdown came to us after a Black Friday that didn’t sell the way it should have, with questions on four fronts at once: the Meta ads, the Google ads, the social feed, and the brand underneath all three.

Two things were needed. Content good enough to carry a premium helmet on a phone screen, and an honest outside read on where the marketing money was going.

THE PROCESS

One shoot, then the edit

The dates come from the files themselves: the camera’s originals and the exported reels.

  1. Feb 21–22

    A day on the mountain

    Wes shot action in fresh snow, portraits between runs, and the helmets on their own, set into the snow under the pines. A video camera rolled alongside the stills for the reels.

    A crew member in a black jacket setting up a video camera with a shotgun mic on a tripod in the snow
    Three Lowdown helmets, blue, gold glitter, and black, set into fresh snow
    A skier in a gold helmet and red jacket turning through untracked snow under a deep blue sky

  2. Feb 25

    Two reels

    Days after the shoot, two vertical reels were finished: Retro Helmet at 14 seconds, and a second cut at 15. Both were built for a phone, with the gold helmet in nearly every frame.

  3. Mar 11

    The last selects

    Eleven more frames went out, mostly close portraits in the gold glitter helmet: the shots that sell the product on a person instead of a shelf.

    A skier in a gold helmet and goggles carrying yellow skis over his shoulder against a blue sky
    A smiling skier in a gold helmet and goggles pulling up the collar of a red jacket, mountains behind

THE WORK

Content and a plan, side by side

The shoot made the content. The strategy sessions decided where it should go, and what to fix before spending more.

A gold glitter Lowdown helmet set into fresh snow at the base of a pine, its brown leather lining showing

The helmet is the hero.

Alongside the action, Wes shot the helmets on their own: gold glitter, black, and powder blue, set into the snow where they’re meant to be worn. Product shots that look like the mountain, not a studio.

Then the same helmets on people, in motion and up close, so a buyer sees the shell, the leather lining, and how it sits with goggles.

7 product shots38 frames on the mountain11 later selects
A grinning skier in a gold Lowdown helmet and goggles, close up, snow and blue sky behind

The plan: fix the foundation before the next dollar.

Over a few strategy sessions we worked through why Black Friday hadn’t sold, what the Meta and Google ads were and weren’t doing, the social feed, and the brand itself.

The last thing we delivered was the full written strategy report: what to fix first, in order. Its main recommendation was influencer marketing. Lowdown took it, and those posts became their highest-performing reels.

Black Friday salesMeta adsGoogle adsSocial mediaThe brand

THE SHOOT

Wes on the mountain

Blue sky, fresh snow, and a gold helmet that catches the light from a hundred yards out. One shoot gave Lowdown action, portraits, and product shots in the same light.

A skier in a red jacket and gold helmet turning hard in powder, a snow-capped peak and pines behind
Close-up of a gold glitter Lowdown helmet and goggles on a skier in an orange jacket
A skier in a gold helmet and goggles looking off to the side, a range of white peaks behind
Two skiers being towed across a snowy track, one in a gold helmet, kicking up snow
A skier in a gold helmet striking a playful one-ski pose with a pole raised, mountains behind
A skier in a red jacket standing on a snowy ridge beside a rocky white peak and a line of pines
A skier in a powder-blue Lowdown helmet and blue sunglasses fastening the chin strap
A powder-blue Lowdown helmet resting on a wooden post in the snow among pines
A skier in a gold helmet and red jacket carrying skis over his shoulder on a snowy ridge

Shot by Wes · Creative Flow Studio · February 2025

THE RESULT

What changed, line by line

Reels

BeforeLowdown’s average reel.

NowTwo reels from one shoot, each performing at five times that.

Photography

Before—

Now56 frames: action, portraits, and product shots of the helmets in the snow.

Black Friday

BeforeSales that didn’t come.

NowA written strategy report on why, covering Meta, Google, social, and the brand.

Influencer marketing

Before—

NowOur main recommendation. It produced Lowdown’s highest-performing reels.

Sometimes the most useful thing a studio delivers is the plan, and the honesty about what has to come first.

The reel performance and the influencer result were confirmed by Kahlil on October 1, 2026.

PhotographyShort-Form VideoReelsProduct PhotographyStrategy ConsultingPaid Social ReviewInfluencer Strategy

One shoot on the mountain, two reels, and a plan. Lowdown kept the part that mattered most: the recommendation that found their best reels.

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