Reverse engineering a commercial shoot:
retro bags for Sun Jellies
The client:
Sun Jellies, creators of iconic retro jelly bags that are equal parts playful and practical.
The brief:
Create a set of high-impact marketing images for a collection of colourful retro bags that celebrate the bold, nostalgic spirit of the brand with a shoot that feels like summer holidays, sticker collections, and your favourite toys all grown up.
The concept:
Monochromatic sets, each built around a nostalgic theme such as picnic, beach, badminton, with matching props. Think retro soda bottles, vintage sunglasses, and kitsch 70s beach towels. Fun, nostalgic, a little over-the-top. The kind of joyful, organised chaos that doesn’t take itself too seriously.
The Challenge:
To capture the retro charm without tipping into cliché. We wanted to blend candy colours and vintage vibes with a modern, art-directed twist that still felt true to the Sun Jellies customer.
Here’s what most people don’t see:
– The hours spent sourcing vintage props that felt right
– Spray painting to match palettes when the right pieces didn’t exist
– Rearranging my entire studio setup to fit large seamless backdrops
– Obsessively planning every element before a single shot was taken
– Spending literal hours getting the items aligned ‘just so’.
The Results:
We leaned into punchy styling, colour-blocked sets, and fun prop details that echoed childhood without being childish. It’s kitsch meets clean. Retro, but fresh. And very, very Sun Jellies. Sometimes the right creative direction is about unpicking the essence of a brand, then dialling it up in your own visual language.
What I love most about this series is how it proves that pre-production and human creativity matter. These images look crafted. Because they were.
The client said they looked like they belonged in a fashion magazine.
I’ll take that.
Marianne
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