What actually
happened.

Case studies, 2022 to 2026, Chicago

Every number on this page is a real client result we can point you at, not an industry benchmark. Where we do not have a number, we have said what we did instead of inventing one.

  • 25+ brands
  • 36M+ reached
  • 30K+ event attendees
  • 100M+ top campaign reach
  • Since 2022

Social media and content

Five accounts, three of them run end to end.

Hardcore Italians

Apparel, multi-year, content and creative

50K followers to over a million.

1,024,529Followers today
15,019Posts
50KWhen we started

An Italian-American apparel and culture brand with a real audience and no production partner. We have made their content ever since: founder stories, seasonal drops, short-form video, and the creative their own team runs as paid social. Their internal team owns the ad account and the media buy. We own what goes in it.

What happened. The account now sits at 1,024,529 followers against 15,019 posts. It was at 50K when the partnership started.

“Holy Cow brought our vision to life with stunning production quality and creative excellence. Helping us build our following from 50k to over millions.”

Michael GarisocaFounder, Hardcore Italians

Monaco Cocktails

Canned cocktails, national, campaign creative

A 20,000% engagement lift.

20,000%Engagement lift
900K+Views, The Can
1M+Views, launch cut

A national ready-to-drink cocktail brand that needed product films, event coverage and launch creative that could carry a paid campaign. We shot the product work, the lifestyle frames and the event content, and built the ad variants their media buyer tested.

What happened. The campaign moved engagement by two orders of magnitude. The Can passed 900K views on its own, and the launch cut crossed a million.

“The creative vision and execution from Holy Cow exceeded our expectations. Our campaign saw a 20,000% increase in engagement and delivered exceptional ROI.”

Ivan NaviiBrand Director, Monaco Cocktails

Sushi Plus

Restaurant group, Chicago, fully managed

Four years of the same contest, and the feed in between.

18,145Followers
795Posts
4Years running their eating contest

A rotary sushi bar with locations in Chinatown, Aurora and Boystown. We run the account end to end: strategy, the shoot days, the calendar, captions, posting and the replies. Everything on the feed was shot by our crew.

What happened. The same relationship also produced their three-minute cinematic brand film and four consecutive years of coverage on their annual sushi eating contest, a 4,000-plus attendee event.

Shabu Plus

Restaurant, Chicago, fully managed plus animation

Content for the feed, and animation for the wall.

16,678Followers
385Posts
2Locations covered

A rotary hot pot restaurant in Chinatown and Wicker Park. We run a full seasonal content calendar end to end, and we also build the animated visuals that play inside the venue itself, which is a different craft from anything that goes on a phone.

What happened. The venue-scale work includes the Squid Game visual, the Shabu Song opener and a complete winter seasonal run.

Park To Shop

Asian grocery, Chicago, fully managed

Proof we can hold a calendar, not just a shoot day.

168Posts
WeeklyPublishing cadence
Multi-siteStore coverage

An Asian grocery chain with a food court. Grocery moves week to week: new produce, seasonal items, promotions that are gone in days. We run weekly product and promotion content, seasonal campaigns, and the day-to-day replies.

What happened. This is the account we point at when someone asks whether we can keep a feed alive between production days. A restaurant feed can live off one good shoot. A grocery feed cannot.

Video production and branding

Brand films and commercials for national clients.

Lincoln Park Podiatry

Healthcare, Chicago, video series

The questions every patient asks, answered on camera.

7Videos delivered
5Patient questions answered
1Drone clinic walkthrough

A Chicago podiatry practice spends the first ten minutes of most appointments answering the same handful of questions. Rather than make one brand film, we built a series: the doctor on camera answering each question properly, once, so the answer is ready before the patient ever books.

What happened. Seven finished videos out of one production: five patient questions, a comparison piece, and a drone and interior walkthrough of the clinic itself. Each one is short enough to sit on a service page, in an email, or in a feed, which is the point of shooting a series instead of a single film.

Clinic walkthrough · Drone and interior tour
What the treatment is like · Patient question
How many sessions · Patient question
How it compares · Patient question
Plantar warts · Patient question
Treatment Q&A · Patient question

Sysco

Food distribution, national, video production

Concept to final delivery, one partner.

25+Brands since 2022
36M+People reached
1Crew, end to end

Corporate video work for a national food distribution business, where the thing that matters is not the hero shot but whether the process is predictable: clear scope, a crew that arrives ready, and a cut that lands on time.

What happened. The result their VP of Operations described is the one we care most about, because it is about the experience of hiring us rather than the footage.

“From concept to final delivery, Holy Cow was the perfect creative partner. Professionalism, responsiveness, and creative talent made the entire process seamless.”

Kevin ChorzempaVP of Operations, Sysco

Product, food and beverage photography

Campaign stills built and shot in our own studio.

Hennessy

Spirits, Lunar New Year, product photography

A full Lunar New Year set, built and shot in our studio.

1Studio day
14Delivered frames
4Built sets on hand

A Lunar New Year gift-set campaign for Hennessy, built and shot in our Pilsen studio rather than on location. Red on red is the hardest thing to light cleanly, and the brief needed both the wide hero and the tight bottle detail from the same setup.

What happened. The set was built in the studio, lit for a single consistent look, and delivered as a campaign hero, a flat lay and close detail work. Hennessy is one of 25+ brands we have shot for since 2022.

Events

Chicago’s second business line for us, and the one with the biggest rooms.

In The Loop Fashion Show

Gangnam Market, 2024, event production and coverage

2M+ impressions from a runway on the L line.

2M+Impressions
70+Influencers
300People in the room

A runway show staged on the L line for Gangnam Market, with AAPI designers and models. Only 300 people could physically be there, so the whole thing was engineered from the start to travel: shot, cut and distributed for an audience that was never going to be in the room.

What happened. Over 2 million impressions against a 300-person venue.

Dragon Boat Race for Literacy

Chinatown Chamber, 2021, two-day multi-camera

20,000 people, two days, one crew.

20K+Attendees
2Days of coverage
Multi-camCamera package

A waterfront activation for the Chinatown Chamber of Commerce and our largest event to date. Two days, multiple cameras, a race that does not wait for you to reset.

What happened. 20,000-plus attendees covered end to end, with sponsor-ready recap cuts delivered afterwards.

We Love Chinatown

Community, 2022, awareness campaign

A neighbourhood campaign, not just coverage.

6K+Attendees
2022Year
CityOfficials on site

City officials, cultural performers and an awareness campaign built around bringing the neighbourhood back. This is the kind of event where the coverage has a job beyond the recap: it has to make people who were not there care.

What happened. 6,000-plus attendees, with the campaign built around the event rather than bolted on after it.

Portraits and headshots

Lit the way we light a film set.

Corporate headshot sessions

Executive and team, Pilsen studio, lit like film

A headshot studio photographs you. We light you.

1Video portrait, included
FreeReshoot if you hate them
$50Each extra retouched image

Portrait studios light for a clean, safe, repeatable result. We light a face the way we light a brand film, because we shoot one every week. Every session is directed: posture, hands, jaw, eyeline, and what to actually think about in the half second before the shutter.

What happened. Every session includes a short video portrait on the same setup, which no other headshot studio we surveyed in Chicago offers, and a free reshoot if you do not love the result.

Studio rental and membership

The rooms the rest of this page was shot in.

The Set House and the Loft

Pilsen, Chicago, two rooms, $45 and $85 an hour

Four looks without leaving the building.

4Built sets, always standing
2Rooms
24/7Access

Shooting three different looks in Chicago usually means three locations and most of a day lost to driving between them. The Set House has four finished environments standing at all times: the Victorian Blue Room, the Wes Anderson set, the Retro 70s Kitchen and the Stylized Bathroom. The Loft next door is an open production room you set up yourself.

What happened. The Hennessy Lunar New Year campaign on this page was shot in these rooms. So was the corporate headshot work. $85 an hour for the four-set room, $45 for the production room, or from $250 a month.

Studio membership

Pilsen, Chicago, from $250 a month

The month costs less than four hours.

4 hrsA day, every day
$250Lowest plan
0Lock-in

Most studio memberships in this city buy you five to eight hours a month. Ours buys up to four hours a day. At $85 an hour for the Set House, the $300 plan pays for itself in under four hours of shooting. At $45 for the Loft, the $250 plan pays for itself in under six.

What happened. Month to month, cancel any time. If you shoot less than once a week we will tell you to book hourly instead, because that is cheaper for you.

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