When Raising Cane’s needed a spot to celebrate National Chicken Finger Day (7/27), they called on someone with serious delivery skills: Snoop Dogg. And when it was time to bring that larger-than-life concept to the screen, they called Republic. The result? A whirlwind production, a flying Cadillac, a handful of chicken fingers, and a spot that landed with equal parts swagger and sauce.
The whole thing came together in two wild phases. First up: Los Angeles, where we had just 45 minutes with Snoop inside his recording studio and greenscreen setup at Death Row Records. We had a classic red Cadillac, a tight window, and one chance to get everything we needed. Then it was off to Baton Rouge days later to shoot the second half (real locations, practical effects, Todd Graves, and a whole lot of flying chicken fingers). Two cities, two crews, one week to make it all happen. It was fast, ever-evolving, and exactly the kind of chaos we live for.
“We basically geared up two completely separate productions – one in LA and one in Baton Rouge,” said Brian Hwang, Republic Production’s Executive Producer. “Everything about it was fast. We didn’t even know what we could shoot with Snoop until the day before. And when you’re prepping blind, you better have a rock-solid crew, and we did.”
Snoop was everything you’d hope for on set. Chill, funny, and totally locked in. He showed up, nailed his lines, threw in a few ad libs, and left us with more than enough magic to build the backbone of the entire spot. “You always hear that legends just do their thing and bounce,” said Ben Tedesco, who directed the campaign. “But Snoop wasn’t phoning it in. He wanted to know the backstory, and he riffed off it. He gave us real performances in every take.”
Sarah Mead, Associate Producer and Content Lead, had a few surreal moments on set. “I was there to shoot BTS, but suddenly I was interviewing Snoop for socials,” she said. “Someone called out, ‘Sarah, you’re up!’ and the next thing I knew, I was in front of him asking questions. He was kind, but gave me a little sass when I asked for another take. I’d actually met him earlier in a hallway—turned around, looked up, and said, ‘Oh, hi!’ He held out his hand and said, ‘Hi, I’m Snoop.’ Totally surreal.”
With that footage in the can, back at Republic in Dallas, our editorial team didn’t waste a second. Andy McGee had a rough cut of Snoop’s material within 24 hours of the LA shoot, giving the Baton Rouge team a chance to tailor their second shoot based on what was already working. “With celebrity shoots, you don’t get a lot of takes,” McGee said. “You just get what you get and have to make it sing. But Snoop gave us gold. Once we saw what we had, it became clear we had a real story to build on.” That early version helped calm nerves, shape creative, and ensure the whole thing would cut together as one seamless story.
In Baton Rouge, the energy shifted from controlled studio chaos to backyard mayhem. Todd brought his signature charisma, joined by a cast of everyday folks catching chicken from the sky and getting blasted with Cane’s sauce. We only had one take per gag (no time for resets), so every dump, splash, and toss had to hit its mark. And somehow, like a true National Chicken Finger Day miracle, it all did.
Bringing the two halves together meant solving some serious creative puzzles. There were no transitions boarded between the big scenes, so Andy built them from scratch. He added custom AI-generated backgrounds, used Midjourney to create a personalized Snoop license plate, and worked in clever visual cues to tie the narrative together. A side profile of the Cadillac lifting into the air? Matching shots for cityscapes and chicken landings? Green screen wizardry. It was tenacious post-production at its finest.
“There were a lot of moving pieces,” said McGee. “We had to stitch together a cohesive story from two completely different shoots, with very little connective tissue. But the energy from Snoop, the inventiveness of the Baton Rouge footage, and the creative trust from the client made it work.”
The soundscape carried just as much weight. We scored the spot using clean radio edits from Snoop’s upcoming album to keep things moving without stepping on the voiceover. Whimsical sound design added flair: magic twinkles as the car took flight, whooshes and thuds as fingers hit their mark, and slimy splashes of sauce timed to perfection. And yes, Snoop’s off-the-cuff line, “Give this one to your mama,” made the final cut.
Through it all, Raising Cane’s stayed nimble. Feedback was fast, decisions were collaborative, and there was a real spirit of creative trust. Even Todd jumped in with ideas, like swapping out the car’s wheels for something flashier. “Todd sent us a reference for these gold spoked rims,” said Michael Wagner, Republic Editorial’s Senior Producer. “So, we added and animated them – they brought the whole look together.”
The result is one of our favorite spots to date. It’s funny, weird, high-energy, and just the right amount of ridiculous. And most of all, it’s unmistakably Cane’s. “We shot a full campaign in five days across two states with a music icon,” said Tedesco. “I’d do it again in a heartbeat. Happy National Chicken Finger Day, everybody.”
