Krystal | Nostalgia : Case Study
Client: Krystal
Project: Nostalgia
Creative + Production: TigerLily
In Partnership with: StudioNow
Creative Development
Research
To communicate this generational story, we needed to learn it first. With the help of archival newspaper articles, we read through hundreds of Krystal stories from various communities throughout the South.
We quickly realized what was true then continues to be true today: Krystal has played a role in milestone moments, from wedding days to college meals to late-night food runs. We started pulling these moments into our narrative and connecting the past to the present.
Concept
Beyond the stories, what we found to be most captivating was the warm and neighborly tone of a small-town newspaper. A fond and distant memory from our world today.
Using the research, our concept took shape by mixing nostalgia with modern imagery paired with a script that reads like a best-of compilation from Krystal’s 92-year history. Presented by a voice from a different time, the spot that takes us back and reminds us what we have to look forward to.
Pre Production
Turn Back the Clock
We had two areas to focus on when developing the visual story: then and now.
To capture the past, we jumped on a flight to comb through the Krystal archives at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. Training videos, commercials and photos helped lay the foundation for our story with a healthy dose of nostalgia.
Emerging Tech
The use of AI
Two things were incredibly important to us when opening the door to AI. First, staying true to the Krystal brand and second, control of the machine. This led us to Laetro, a tech platform focused on generating AI content responsibly.
Laetro offered a proprietary AI model for processing and Creative Director James White, who specializes in AI human design, to take us to the finish line.
To start, the AI engine was fed, and only fed, with the images from Krystal's archive.
On set, we staged each scene with stand-in talent and props. We set the framing and positioning then captured still images to pass to the AI team as a starting point.
The images were fed into the proprietary model and recreated in period-specific timeframes. From there, James finessed the image, branding, and, most importantly, ensuring the food was accurate and on brand.
Once the final AI images were processed, we printed them out to photo paper, aged them, and rephotographed them in the same process we captured the original archival images.
