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“So Karabo, tell us how you came to be a part of the Feels Like UGG global campaign, here in Seoul Korea.”
“I got an email?” deadpanned Karabo Poppy, an illustrator and graffiti artist from South Africa.
Great, I thought, someone else on this shoot who matches my energy. I was worried everyone else would be total pros at all this. A feint though it was, as Karabo then launched into a monologue on creativity, family, a sense of place, and how they connected to the Feels Like UGG campaign, delivered with such warmth and confidence that I felt my own start to drain away. I imagined the marketing team huddled around the studio monitor exchanging high-fives. You’re in trouble now, Phil.
Expressing enthusiasm and genuineness, you see, aren’t really my core competencies. Even when I mean it, compliments sound spiked with sarcasm—which is part of the reason I don’t do any “Hi Guys!”-style social media videos and why I often lean into my grumpy cat persona. Was this UGG shoot as good time as any to start some self-improvement?
“Okay Phil, just try to remember not to use the C-word in relation to the UGG boots,” said the director.
“Got it… So what I love most about my UGG Boots are how Comfor… Ah sorry, I mean how they… feel like home? Yes, how they feel like home!” Nailed it.
This wasn’t my first time on the other side of the camera. I once was shot for a Uniqlo ad, my face, with mouth agape like a blow-up doll, plastered all over billboards and subway stations. I loved it. And I did a commercial for Transitions Lenses, though that was scripted. “They go from clear to dark when I go outside. I love ’em!”
Neither of those experiences were nearly on the scale of the UGG shoot, where there were easily a couple hundred people on set. One to fuss with my hair, another for makeup who was also responsible for checking my teeth after kimbap breaks, and a stylist assistant; one guy to follow me around with a portable fan (shearlings and puffers in June…), and another to ask if I needed anything. And on top of the, a PA in the form of a young Korean-American fella with an NYU film degree, would pop by just to make sure I for sure didn’t need anything. I could get used to this!
For the main campaign video and photoshoot, I had scenes with Karabo, and the models Precious Lee and Alex Consani, whose energy is about as extra as mine is minus. The director asked me to snap pics of Alex while we rode bikes through the streets of Seoul. A confident rider, I am not. The last time I rode a bike was a decade ago in Copenhagen, where old ladies cussed me out for messing up the bike lane traffic flow. We also did a rooftop party scene, an impromptu bus-stop shoot, and a bit where Alex and I stumbled upon Karabo working on a street-art piece, all in a Matrix-style wonderland where everyone, even the dozens of background actors, wear UGG footwear. Also, I got to say “super nice meeting you, as well!” to Hanni from NewJeans.
I wanted to take a pair home with me, but my boots were samples and the UGG team needed them back. It reminded me of the time I was at an airport terminal and I overheard a lady hysterically crying on the phone, “they made me leave behind my bag of UGG boots.” I always wondered who “they" were and why she had to leave the bag behind, and also exactly how many pairs of boots we were talking about here. But I now know her pain: the loss, the longing, such unfulfillable longing—unfulfillable until today, that is, as the collection is now available for purchase at UGG stores, UGG.com, and select retailers nationwide. Nailed it!
