Behind the Scenes: When Brand Revamps Go Sideways

Fuckups, who doesn't love fuckups? Now here goes mine. I would say, ours.

The glossy final images that grace a brand's website rarely tell the story of what it took to create them. While producing an ambitious, multi-week brand revamp exercise for Kerala Ayurveda 2.0 with David & Who and Everything Design, numerous things went brilliantly right—but plenty went spectacularly wrong as well. These are the war stories that never make it to the portfolio but become legendary among the crew.

When Your Body Gives Out Before Your Creativity Does

Anyone who's worked on location shoots knows the physical toll they take. The endless packing and repacking of equipment—softboxes, light stands, modifiers, cables—becomes a workout nobody signed up for. During our Kerala Ayurveda project, disaster struck while breaking down softbox ring walls. One wrong move resulted in excruciating pain that would have sidelined most professionals.

Yet the shoot continued. There I was, directing compositions while visibly limping across locations, determined not to let physical limitations compromise the creative vision. Pain medication became as essential as memory cards. The client never knew the grimaces between shots weren't about lighting concerns but about pushing through injury to deliver excellence.

The Communication Cascade

What production team hasn't faced the dreaded timeline extension? Our carefully orchestrated schedule began unraveling when feedback rounds multiplied beyond what any reasonable production timeline could accommodate. With each new stakeholder weighing in, the project scope crept outward while the deadline remained stubbornly fixed.

The professional veneer that typically characterizes client-agency relationships occasionally slipped as stress mounted. Emails became terse, calls went longer than scheduled, and patience wore thin on all sides. It was a stark reminder that behind corporate logos are humans navigating pressures from all directions.

Technical Betrayal at the Worst Possible Moment

There's a special kind of dread when equipment fails with clients watching. For the first time in my professional career, rental lights refused to fire during a crucial setup. Not just one, but several units went dark simultaneously, creating a technical crisis with an audience of brand executives anxiously checking their watches.

The pressure was palpable—every minute of troubleshooting felt like an hour, every glance from clients like a performance review in progress. This wasn't just a technical hiccup; it was a test of crisis management happening in real-time with significant budget on the line.

The Power Struggle—Literally

If there's one universal truth in production, it's that electrical demands will exceed expectations. When our inverter became overwhelmed by the combined draw of professional lighting equipment, we faced a total blackout mid-shot. The scramble to secure a generator on short notice transformed our meticulously planned shoot into something resembling a movie production.

The cacophony of a generator humming in the background while attempting to capture serene Ayurvedic wellness moments created an irony not lost on anyone present. Yet somehow, these challenges forged a camaraderie among team members that polished productions rarely achieve.

These behind-the-scenes catastrophes rarely make it into case studies or Instagram highlights, but they're often where the most valuable professional growth happens—teaching resilience, problem-solving, and grace under pressure that no training program could provide.