PAYLESS · DCX GROWTH ACCELERATOR

Palessi

Director & Producer

This began as something pretty straightforward: a Black Friday sales spot. The call came in from DCX Growth Accelerator in the second week of October, which meant we had about five weeks to prep, shoot, and finish. Not a lot of runway. Not a lot of budget either - certainly not enough to bring on a director - so the job of directing just sort of…collapsed onto me.

First call: Kelly Scott, a line producer whose defining trait is that nothing rattles her. She said yes. That mattered.

Second call: Anna Sellinger - fashion futurist, sharp creative thinker, and friend. Anna immediately grasped what this could be beyond a retail spot. The idea of building an Instagram presence for “Palessi” came from her, and not as an afterthought - it was foundational. If I remember correctly, she may have claimed the handle while we were still on the phone. She joined the crew in LA and performed the very crucial, yet behind the scenes role of “store manager”.

Third call: Brian Sanford, editor, and probably the best pure problem-solver I know in post. I was a first-time director, and Brian gave me a simple but crucial framework: make sure you have a setup, a confrontation, and a resolution. It sounds obvious, but in the chaos of a compressed production, that kind of clarity is everything. He also attended the shoot to make sure I captued what was needed for the edit.

I wrote a treatment. Not with the expectation that we were creating something culturally resonant or viral - there was no grand ambition there - but simply trying to execute a compelling version of the assignment in front of us.

And that’s the part that’s easy to forget in hindsight: at every step, this was just an attempt to make a better Black Friday spot. The scale of what it became wasn’t visible from where we were standing.

PRESS

GMA — "A sharp move. Brilliant. Really, really smart."

Washington Post — "Inside Payless's elaborate prank"

Maxim — "Some kind of Don Draper-level brilliant marketing"

AdAge — "DCX turns bargain sneakers into boutique footwear"

Huffington Post — "Bravo, Payless. Bravo."

CREDITS

Agency: DCX

Founder / Copywriter– Doug Cameron

CEO – Tom Sewell

ECD / Art Director – Tommy Noonan

CD – Mauricio Alarcon

Account Director – Patrick McCormick

Executive Producer – David Logan

Production Company: DCX Cultural Studios

Director – David Logan

Line Producer – Kelly Scott

Production Manager – Jerry terHorst

Production Coordinator  - Jonathan D. Ortiz

Production Designer – Ricardo Jattan

Store Consultant – Anna Corinna Sellinger

Director of Photography - Shane Collins

Camera Operator – Andrew Sanchez

1st AD – Cody Boessen

Editorial: Beast Editorial NYC

Sr Editor - Brian Sanford

Executive Producer - Melissa Lubin

Post Producer - Michael Beltrame

Asst Editor - Joseph D’Amato

After Effects - Christian Matts

Colorist - Lez Rudge w/ Chimney

Audio Mix-  Peter Holcomb w/ Sound Lounge

Online Conform - Scott Bravo w/ Beast

Client: Payless

CMO  - Sara Couch

Brand Manager – Lisa Contino

Creative Director – Jeff Vandeven

Creative Services Manager – Cheri Bernand

Marketing Director – Bernardo Meza

VP Marketing – Dominic Bonadio