How Front Row’s studio built a full holiday product library for Rodan + Fields
A Q4 holiday campaign runs on volume. Rodan + Fields needed product and model stills for social, .com and VM across three phases (October warm-up, November Cyber, December year-end), with dozens of kits, minis and promo groupings, all live October 1. Every hero shot, bundle and alternate crop had to look like it came from the same world.
The campaign started with a truth most holiday work misses: she already has a routine, she already knows what works, and she is genuinely hard to shop for because of it. So R+F stopped positioning itself as a discovery and became proof of knowing her.
That became “Thoughtfully hers,” with the hero tagline “Everything your skin deserves.” The tone is celebratory, warm and affirming. Every frame had to sound like that before it could be multiplied.
Objectives
Used Skills
Studio first: the craft behind the originals
Front Row’s internal team shot the campaign in San Diego over three days in late August and talent over three days at the start of September.
Lighting. Two setups carried the product world. The fluted surface setup uses warm, directional light filtering through ribbed panels, with luminous bands, layered reflections and soft tonal shifts. The matte paper setup is filmic and analog-inspired, with defined shadows, gentle falloff and subtle grain.
Props. The kit list reads like a stationery drawer and a vanity table had a holiday party. It includes wide and narrow fluted plexi, red, cream and charcoal grounds, silver, red and white ribbons in multiple weights, tissue and washi tape, silver ornaments, pewter trays and compacts, notecards, red envelopes and silver-toned stockings. One rule held throughout: trays should read vanity, not dinner.
Set design and skin direction for talent. Two models were cast. Set design stayed minimal but seasonal, with fluted translucent panels for shimmer, a saturated holiday red backdrop for richness, and candid moments on crisp white poplin for softness. Skin was kept fresh, luminous and dewy, with natural texture left in and only subtle highlights added.
None of this is AI-generated. It is the product of a studio team making decisions about high quality creative; focused on radiant holiday light, texture and mood, and it sets the creative tone for everything downstream.
Approach
A visual world that evolves by phase
The system moves with the promotional calendar, so the library had to cover three distinct looks.
- October, holiday warm-up. Champagne light, reflective surfaces and polished holiday finish. Product-forward compositions with stacked gifts, curated groupings, ribbon trails and wrapped boxes.
- November and December, focus and Cyber. Deeper contrast in warm reds, wood tones, cream, silver and R+F blue. Gift boxes held, opened and presented as meaningful objects, with fluted texture and ribbon used more dramatically.
- December, year-end. Light, airy compositions with generous negative space in silver, ivory and pale champagne. Unwrapped boxes, open foil, handwritten notes and a few birthday candles for the Lash Boost 10th anniversary.
How we multiplied the output
With the lighting, props and palette locked, we used AI to extended the library. We produced alternate AI heroes, multi-product groupings and lifestyle arrangements that would otherwise have meant more setups, more props and more days on set.
Once the product world was set, AI carried more of the combinatorial work: bigger groupings, mini and kit permutations, and lifestyle alternates for promos and the final stretch.
The output
67 campaign stills in total: 31 original product stills, 19 AI stills and 17 model stills. Everything was delivered for social, .com and VM ahead of the October 1 go-live.
Why It Worked
The point of view
AI is only as good as what you direct it. Because the original inputs were real, art-directed photography, every AI still inherited a look worth inheriting. Our content team made the first frame, and AI made it multiply.
Interested in how our creative team leverages AI to help brands scale content? Connect with our beauty experts below!
