Panini Blog
Panini Blog
Compelled by the mid-February announcement that Panini America had extended its exclusive agreement with the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, D Magazine writer Peter Simek reached out to us about doing a story on the company for D CEO Magazine. By early March, Simek was sitting in Panini America CEO Mark Warsop’s office finishing a lengthy interview before embarking on a formal tour of Panini America HQ.
When Simek’s work was done, he turned things over to talented photographer Stanton J. Stephens and his magic lens. On March 12, Stephens transformed our primary conference room into his personal studio, putting Warsop through the paces and at least one wardrobe change. Near the end of the shoot, not long after Warsop had swapped his formal business attire for the comfort of jeans, sneakers and a Rated Rookie T-shirt, Stanton had one more idea.
Channeling the famous Bill Parcells Gatorade bath from Super Bowl XXI, Stephens’ idea was to fill a cooler with Panini America products (in this case, primarily NFL stickers so as not to put one of our CEO’s eyes out) and douse Warsop in celebratory fashion. So Jason Howarth, Scott Prusha and myself went about ripping NFL sticker packets like mad to fill the cooler.
After a few takes and some masterful direction from Stephens (not to mention repeated refilling of the cooler), the shot was nailed, the shoot was over and we waited for the magazine to hit newsstands late last week. We think you’ll agree that the finished product — Simek’s words in concert with Stanton’s image — speaks quite eloquently for itself.
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