It’s all about teamwork. In Adidas’ Come On, Push It campaign, super-athletes Patrick Mahomes and Lionel Messi face off in a playful test of endurance. It’s an edit packed with humor, healthy competition, and the universal message that “We all need someone to make us believe ‘we got this.’" Behind the scenes, the post team at Lucky Day turned tight timelines and production limitations into an emotionally resonant and compelling spot that brings humanity to a major brand. We chatted with Lucky Day co-founder and editor Zach Jones about shaping story through sound, balancing pace and tension, and how Evercast kept collaboration fast, fluid, and fun.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Tell me about Lucky Day and how it came to be.
Zach Jones: We started Lucky Day in 2018—me, my EP Chris Vanderloo, and [editor] Kyle Von Hoetzendorff as well. I had been a freelance editor for about 10 years or so, and then decided I wanted to do something a little more special. So we started Lucky Day. We wanted to do two things: tell stories that inspire us and challenge us to be creative, while building a place where we could work with our friends. It's been a great ride so far. We’re based in Portland, so the West Coast is mainly where our focus is.
What do you think separates Lucky Day from others in the space?
Zach: I think it comes down to the people that we have. We’re creative people with a finger on what’s going on in the world that’s cool and inspiring, but also have this very non-ego way of working that I think helps inspire the work in a really unique way. We have a very West Coast mindset and focus. We're very Portland—kind of DIY, kind of offbeat. A lot of us came through Wieden+Kennedy, so we have that sort of experience, too. Kyle always describes it as, “Our vibes are really good.” We want to be the people you're glad to be stuck on a submarine with. That's what it always comes down to: the work's always going to be difficult, but at least I'm having a good time with the people I'm with.
So true. So are you guys mostly doing remote work?
Zach: It’s a mix between in-person locally, traveling for in-person, and remote work. Remote work and Evercast still play a very important role in our day-to-day processes. While the pandemic may be over, a lot of the muscle memory still remains and we find ourselves going back and forth between a combination of all these things. The fastest way to make a decision is always in a room with the people we’re working with, especially at the end of a project when we start fine-tuning. Evercast is a great way to bridge the gap when we can’t physically be together in the room.
Cool. Now tell me a little bit about the Adidas “Come On Push” campaign.
Zach: It was a really fun edit. A lot of things that I really like: sports, humor, a little bit of tension, all in a short amount of time. And getting to work with two amazing athletes was sort of a dream come true. The director, Ryan Booth, gave us a lot of great footage to work with. A lot of the story is told through Patrick Mahomes’ face, and he put on a great performance. You never really know what you're going to get with athletes and how interested they're going to be in doing it, but he was fantastic. They both were! A lot of that comes down to Ryan being really clear with his direction. They shot longer with Mahomes than they did with Messi; I think Messi was only there for 15 minutes total. When they work with someone like Messi, it's like on a stage with like, four or five different sets, and he just rotates through them all and then goes home. But luckily Patrick worked for a full day. He gave us so many options that it made it really easy to start crafting, which was fortunate, because sometimes you don't get that with athletes.
Did it focus more on Patrick because you guys had more footage of him?
Zach: Yeah, but a lot of it is the reveal of Messi, right? You have Patrick Mahomes, one of the greatest quarterbacks that's ever lived, and Lionel Messi, probably the greatest soccer player that's ever lived. And the whole concept is: No matter how great you are, you always have someone that's going to push you a little further. So hiding the reveal of Messi was essential. And then you see these two great athletes having a great time and pushing each other to be better in a fun and playful way.
I also loved how you used sound to tell the story—how the rhythm of the footsteps synced up with the music by the end.
Zach: Yeah, the rhythm of the footsteps and the treadmill was a big part of building the arc into the reveal. We focused on the footsteps getting faster as the treadmill gradually increased in speed, and you're hearing it and feeling it, and we’re building that tension and anticipation with sound. That was super fun to do.
Were there any other unique challenges that you guys faced on this campaign?
Zach: The tricky parts were really the small amount of footage we got of Messi, so only having a few options to find the best moment, and then the timeline is always tricky. It's always really tight, always a rush. The music was a little tricky too, because Adidas has been using this Velvet Underground song, “I'm Sticking With You” for all of their campaign, so it was a little like, does this really work with this spot? But finally it did come together. Sometimes there are creative choices that you can't really control—like, this is the campaign music—and you just kind of have to figure out how to put it together.
Right. So, how did Evercast come into play with all this?
Zach: We spent the early part of the project together in-person, in the edit room, screening footage, trying different takes, and exploring how each scene could flow. Opinionated, the agency we worked with, is also based in Portland, but as the schedule tightened, there were stretches when we couldn’t all be in the same place, and that’s when Evercast became essential. We used it to review changes, share options, and keep the creative momentum going. It’s such a valuable tool when we want to collaborate but can’t be in the same room, giving us the flexibility to stay connected and keep pushing the work forward, no matter where we are. It keeps momentum and makes it possible to finish strong.
Love it. And what hardware and software were you using?
Zach: We were on Mac Studios, and we streamed Adobe Premiere into Evercast through NDI.
How would you say Evercast brought value to the project?
Zach: It's so nice when I'm working with someone—whether they’re in town, on the West Coast, East Coast, wherever—and I can just say, “Can you jump in and look at this for 15 minutes?” Everyone's busy, stretched thin working on different projects, so being able to ask, “Hey, can you watch this and give me some quick feedback and notes?” That's where it's so useful. When we're testing a lot of different things in the edit, I don't want to have to render it every time, send the link, and wait, you know? I just want them to watch it and say, “Yes,” “No,” “Try this,” like, have a conversation. When we’re on Slack or whatever, I can just send an Evercast link, they can click on it, jump in the room, we talk about it for a few minutes, then they go off and do their thing, and I execute whatever it is they've asked for. It's so useful in that way. Sometimes I'll just work in Evercast, so it's almost like when I used to work in an actual facility. I'll just be working with Evercast open, then someone pops in, and I’ll be like, “Oh hey, check this out,” or “Come back in 10 minutes, I'll have someone show you.” I use it in that way a lot as well—it’s great. It's such a useful tool.
Shifting gears a little here, what are some trends or creative shifts in the advertising space that are exciting you right now?
Zach: I do feel like there's a little bit of a nostalgia thing, almost like people want to go back to simple, where it's 16x9, and it’s shot well. TikTok and all that stuff is 9x16, and people got used to stuff looking poor, but now I'm starting to see a shift. People want it to look more like 16mm. It's a cycle, right? You’re doing the easiest thing, then people get tired of stuff not looking good. And there’s nostalgia, where people want to go back to film looks—even if it's shot in video, they want it to look roughed up and edgy. I’m seeing more of, like, the ‘90s skateboarding video look—fish eye lenses and crazy graphics and weird things going on, which is kind of cool.
The ‘90s are just trending in every sense.
Zach: Yeah I have a 16-year-old daughter, and she dresses like I did when I was 12—big hoodies, baggy flared out jeans … it’s so strange.
It's funny because there's such a generational rivalry these days, and it’s like, we invented that!
Zach: Right!
What makes an ad resonate with audiences often comes down to emotional connection. It starts with the concept and script, of course, but what are some of the ways that you really bring that home in post production?
Zach: The emotional connection a lot of times comes down to the performances. You want to cut something in a way that doesn't feel like it's been edited, so it feels very natural to the viewer. I think that's when you get real emotional connection in a spot—when you're not even feeling the edit. And it takes time to sit and find the right points to cut so that you don't notice the cut. It's not a trick, it's just time and experience, and feeling. It’s hard sometimes because you sit and watch the same thing over and over again. I've watched that Mahomes spot probably 500 times, so I know it inside out. You have to separate your working brain from the viewer brain and start to feel it in that way. It’s a challenge, but when you nail it, it's the best feeling—to finally watch it and not feel your edit points anymore.
I also love using sound design to finesse an edit and make it feel real. I rely on the feeling I get from the footage, and then use sound design to help elevate the image. My goal is always to make something that I want to watch. I want to be entertained. So I'm always thinking through that lens. And the thing I love about sound design is it creates a feeling. With the Messi/Mahomes spot, we used sound design to build emotion. Adding those little bits of textural sound design—you're starting to hear the footsteps, then you're hearing the treadmill, and you're hearing the little button beeping, and you're hearing the people in the background. All that stuff gets in your head and makes you feel like you're there.
Yeah, it really all comes together to make an impact.
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