Genentech DTC lung cancer screening campaign. Three couples, four environments, one studio day. Full-service pharmaceutical advertising photography and retouching by Dale May.
GENENTECH | PHARMA
Services: Concept Development, Studio Photography, Set Design, Retouching & Post-Production | DTC Pharmaceutical Advertising Campaign
Four locations. One studio. One day. No compromises.
THE CONCEPT
Genentech promotes early lung cancer detection through low-dose CT scans for high-risk individuals, specifically those aged 50 to 80 with a significant smoking history. The campaign brief was built around a simple, powerful insight: people who smoke are often diligent about other health screenings but overlook their lungs. The tagline made it concrete: "You get these checked out regularly. What about your lungs?" Final ads featured bright orange graphic brackets placed over each couple, one over the woman's chest and one over the man's pelvis, drawing a direct visual comparison to breast cancer and prostate cancer screening.
The brief called for three diverse couples in three distinct lifestyle scenarios, each chosen to reflect communities with higher rates of smoking: a biker couple on motorcycles, a musician couple on a vintage stage, and a pool-playing couple in a billiard hall. A fourth shot of a hospital waiting room was added to complete the campaign's range of placements. All four images needed to be captured in a single production day at a New York City studio.
THE CHALLENGE
Building four distinct environments in a single studio, one of which needed to read as an outdoor location, is a significant production challenge. The talent constraint added another layer: every couple had to be positioned facing the camera directly, with enough separation between them for the graphic elements to be placed cleanly in post. That requirement limited how naturally the couples could interact. The instinct when directing couples is always to let them turn toward each other, find a moment, let something real happen. Here, every frame had to balance authentic connection with a very specific compositional requirement.
Casting presented its own challenges. All six models needed to read as a convincing couple, appear to be 55 or older, and carry the lived-in quality of someone who might realistically be a smoker. That combination of age, chemistry, and authenticity is harder to cast than it sounds. The lifestyle scenarios, bikers, musicians, pool players, were chosen specifically because they reflect communities where smoking rates are higher, which meant the casting needed to feel true to those worlds, not just demographically close.
THE APPROACH
Finding the Right Studio
The first decision was the most important one. Rather than scouting separate locations for each scenario, which would have made a single production day impossible, I looked for a studio that could convincingly become four different environments with the right set dressing and lighting. Industria Studio in Brooklyn was the answer. It had exactly what we needed: a concrete floor and blue painted brick wall that could read as an outdoor sidewalk in front of a building, a rustic brick wall with an industrial window perfectly suited to a billiard hall interior, and enough open white wall and floor space to build the remaining two environments from scratch.
Building Four Worlds in One Day
The biker scenario used the concrete floor and brick wall with a motorcycle brought in as a hero prop. The lighting was designed to read as outdoor ambient, hard enough to suggest daylight without telegraphing the studio ceiling above. The pool hall scenario used the industrial brick wall with a billiard table dressed into the frame. The musician scenario was built entirely from a velvet curtain, a wood floor section, and stage lighting that created the warmth and depth of a vintage performance space. The hospital waiting room was assembled using the studio's white walls with carefully chosen props and flooring to create the clinical environment the campaign needed.
Directing Within Constraints
Directing couples to look authentic while facing the camera directly is a discipline in itself. The natural pull when two people are comfortable together is to turn toward each other, which is exactly what makes couple photography feel real and exactly what the graphic requirement made impossible. My approach was to build genuine rapport between each couple before we shot, give them something specific to think about or talk about while I was capturing, and find the frames where the connection came through the eyes and the posture rather than through physical proximity. The goal was always authenticity within the constraint, not despite it.
BTS
THE RESULT
Four campaign-ready pharmaceutical advertising images delivered from a single production day. Each scenario reads as a distinct location. The biker couple sits in front of what looks like a Brooklyn street wall. The musicians belong on that stage. The pool players are in a room that feels like it has decades of smoke in the walls. None of it was shot on location.
The campaign ran with unrestricted trade and consumer use across all print, digital, and electronic media in the US for three years, with usage extended during Covid. The images held up across the full run because the production decisions made on day one were the right ones: the right studio, the right sets, the right talent, and a directing approach that found authenticity within a tight compositional constraint.
For pharmaceutical advertising clients, this campaign demonstrates what a well-prepared single-day studio production can accomplish. Four distinct environments. Six cast members. One location. One day. All retouching and post-production completed in-house.
CREDITS
Photography & Retouching: Dale May
Agent: WSW Creative
Executive Producer: Shelley Spierman
Producer: George Watson
Assistant Producer: Jhonny Montano
Digital Tech: Peter Roessler
1st Assistant: Robert Cohen
2nd Assistant: Pablo Aspinoza
Photo Intern & BTS Stills: Joleen Sandvar
Production Assistants: Kristen DiVenti, Jonathon Surano
Wardrobe Stylist: Cannon
Wardrobe Assistant: Alexandra Lynn
Set & Props: Peter Garigliano and Crew
Makeup & Hair: Jessica Tarazi
Makeup & Hair Assistant: Tiffany Tarazi
Studio: Industria, Brooklyn
Motorcycle Jockeys: Tom Testo & Wendy Waring
Band Of Two: Chris Horn & Dian Griesel
Pool Sharks: Verl Thomas & Marcia Fingal
Client: Genentech
See more pharmaceutical campaign work | Contact
For press inquiries, contact Sarah Hall Productions: info@shpny.com | 212.529.1598
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