Lifestyle campaign photography for Sistema's new bottle range

Sistema commissioned Gotham Studios Melbourne to produce a vibrant lifestyle campaign for a new bottle range. Managed directly through Sistema's London office, the project brought together a full production crew, male and female talent, and three separate locations across a tightly scheduled three-day shoot, led by Lisa Saad, Principal Photographer at Gotham Studios Melbourne.

The brief

Produce a vibrant lifestyle campaign for Sistema's new bottle range, featuring male and female talent aged approximately 25 to 35 across active, colourful and contemporary everyday settings.

The products needed to remain clearly visible while still feeling naturally integrated into real lifestyle moments.

The challenge — producing scale within a tight budget

A full crew, multiple products, talent, and three separate locations — inside three shoot days and a tightly controlled budget.

Every element had to be coordinated to the hour. Locations, talent, wardrobe, timing and product requirements all needed to work together without losing the spontaneity and energy the campaign called for. That's the central tension in lifestyle work: the images have to look unplanned, and the only way to achieve that is to plan everything else meticulously.

There's also a discipline specific to product-led lifestyle photography. The bottles had to stay clearly identifiable in every frame — visible, legible, correctly oriented — without the images tipping over into looking like product shots with people added.

How we solved it

We built the production around three distinct locations, using each environment to create genuine visual variety while holding one consistent creative direction across the campaign. Three locations in three days only works if the transitions are planned as carefully as the setups.

Talent was photographed in active, colourful and contemporary situations designed to reflect the intended audience, showing the bottles as part of everyday life rather than as isolated products.

Careful pre-production allowed the full crew, product range and location schedule to be managed efficiently within the available budget — which is where the budget was actually protected. Not on the shoot days, but in the weeks before them.

The result

A cohesive library of energetic lifestyle imagery presenting Sistema's new bottle range in a modern, colourful and relatable way. The campaign delivered visual variety across three locations while maintaining a consistent brand identity throughout.

Why this matters for your brand

Lifestyle product campaigns rely on more than placing a product in someone's hand. Talent, location, styling and art direction all need to support the same brand message while keeping the product clearly identifiable.

Strong pre-production is what makes variety, consistency and scale achievable even when the budget and schedule are tightly controlled. If you're working to a fixed budget, spend it on planning rather than on extra shoot days — a well-prepared three-day shoot will out-deliver a loosely planned five-day one.

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Credits

This lifestyle campaign photography for Sistema was produced and art-directed by Lisa Saad, Principal Photographer at Gotham Studios Melbourne. Our team coordinated all locations, talent, crew, logistics, art direction and styling, and produced the campaign as requested by the client. Gotham Studios Melbourne. We are your photographers. www.lisasaad.com