The all-star line-up on "Driving Range" included creatives Chuck McBride and Hal Curtis, who were running the Nike business as creative directors at W+K at the time and who wrote and art-directed the spot themselves; director Lasse Hallstrom (The Cider House Rules, the upcoming Shipping News); DP Philippe Rousselot, who has shot such eye-feasting features as Dangerous Liaisons and A River Runs Through It; and of course the talented and telegenic Tiger Woods to complete the picture. That picture involves a driving range line-up of duffers whose ham-fisted swings are transformed into models of power and precision once graced with Woods' presence, and then transformed back as Woods departs and balls fly askew once again.

Palumbo produced the spot in Orlando, FL, Woods' stomping ground. "It was a combination of all those people and a great idea," says Palumbo of the team. "And at that point it was up to the execution, pulling it together and making it work." Palumbo points also to the involvement of LA's Sight Effects, which provided key on-set guidance to getting the right shots to facilitate the post twiddling, which helped create the desired trajectories of the golf balls.

Palumbo has produced a number of high-profile projects for Nike in just under two years at W+K. He worked recently on the global Olympic campaign directed by David Fincher (see Boards Vol.1, Iss.11) and the ground-breaking Nike whatever.com campaign directed by Johan Renck (see Boards Vol.1 Iss.4). He is currently heading into production on the second phase of a Robertson Stephens campaign, the first installment having been directed by Errol Morris through @radical.media.

Palumbo's route to W+K wound through a number of other agencies in other cities as well as through Hollywood. The path started at Northeastern University in Palumbo's hometown of Boston. Undecided on an academic direction, he traveled to New York and through a relative met a producer at Grey Advertising. The scene struck a cord. "I thought, this was exactly what I'd been looking for," says Palumbo. "It was business but it was creative --- it was the best of both worlds and I think that's what production is." Palumbo stayed in New York for six months and worked as a PA before returning to finish school. After graduation, he headed to LA and worked on TV movies and eventually did a two-year stint in a production role on the series Northern Exposure. Returning to Boston, Palumbo was hired at a then-burgeoning Houston Effler by soon-to-be-famous producer, Scott Hainline. Later, Palumbo was recruited to JWT in New York by head of production Stephanie Apt, and worked there on an array of business including the "Rocky" spot for Lipton Brisk. After a few years, Palumbo returned home to work again with Hainline, now at Hill Holliday.

At Wieden, Palumbo works with head of production Ben Grylewicz, and he acknowledges the heavy influence his current boss and his other production mentors have had on his approach to production.