JAY JAYS
→ A case study for Culture Amp
MEET OUR DENIM
CAMPAIGN 2020
→ ABOUT:
→ CONTENTS:
I’ve created a custom case study for this chat, focusing on a retail brand campaign project that showcases the knowledge, skills, and experiences relevant to this Lead Brand Designer role.
1: Client & Deliverables Summary
2: Business + Customer Goals & Desired Outcomes
3: My Role & Team Summary
4: Campaign Strategy Summary + TOV
5: Conceptual Summary
6: Final Design & Creative Direction Summary
7: Main Design Challenges & Learnings Summary
8: Content & Production Summary
9: Main Production Challenges & Learnings Summary
10: Results & General Learnings Summary
1. CLIENT & DELIVERABLES SUMMARY
Client: Jay Jays
Campaign: Meet our Denim
Location: Australia & New Zealand
Agency: The Reactor
My Role: Creative Lead
Industry: Retail, Fast-Fashion.
2: BUSINESS + CUSTOMER GOALS & DESIRED OUTCOMES
→ BUSINESS BRIEF SUMMARY & GOALS
Get
Who
To
By
Jay Jays
Have an overwhelming amount of Denim styles
1: Bring more clarity to their new Denim range, and…
2: Sell more Denim.
1: Coming up with a creative campaign to sell a high volume of denim styles and…
2: Make this the brand’s biggest Denim launch ever (increase ROI).
→ CUSTOMER-FACING BRIEF SUMMARY & GOALS
Get
Who
To
By
Tweens and teens’ aged between 11–20 years…
Need or want to buy new Denim…
Buy their new Denim from Jay Jays…
Showing them Jay Jays is their top destination for denim and inspiring them with a wide, new range in the simplest way possible.
3: MY ROLE & TEAM SUMMARY
→ AGENCY TEAM SUMMARY
As the senior creative who led this project from concept to execution, my responsibilities were:
1: To respond to the creative brief with on-trend and on-brand creative ideas that met business and campaign deliverables. And to lead the design and creative direction.
2: Conceptually challenge the brief and client.
3: Empower, trust and lead my team to collaboratively solve the brief together, from start
to finish.
→ PRODUCTION TEAM SUMMARY
During production, my responsibilities as the creative lead were:
1: Ensure all content deliverables were met.
2: Problem solve issues during pre-production, on-set, and in post-production.
3: Manage client expectations and quality output.
4: Collaboratively manage the running of the shoot day with my Account Manager and wider team.
4. CAMPAIGN STRATEGY SUMMARY + TONE OF VOICE
Delivering 24x campaigns a year, we consistently had short time frames to turn around Jay Jays campaigns.
So I approached the strategy side of this brief with a simple but detailed ideation and problem-solving session in our loft in the office. Where the team could pin ideas to the wall and we could solve the core part of the brief, collaboratively.
After a few hours of brainstorming, back and forth ideas, quickly researching national and international trends in this space, we landed on an inviting yet simple and powerful creative platform and campaign name that ticked all of the boxes of the brief we need to, with regards to conveying the wide range of Denim styles Jay Jays were aiming to sell for this campaign:
MEET OUR DENIM
CAMPAIGN TOV
Our agreed upon creative platform helped us underpin the large number of Denim styles that we had to convey in a simple way, and also influenced our concept exploration.
However, we needed to expand upon this to flesh out the overarching tone of voice to support the rest of the campaign across other assets.
Our copywriter and strategist collaborated with the client and liked the idea of using ‘real names’ for denim styles, making them relatable and memorable for customers.
This further shaped the campaign’s wider tone of voice, using second person to speak directly to customers (e.g., “What’s your wash?”… “Meet Emily, your new fave jeans” etc.).
5. CONCEPTUAL SUMMARY
With our preferred creative platform in mind, my team and I developed two concepts:
a safe one for the brand, and a brave one.
The latter, our bolder concept, was chosen by the client in the end. It not only challenged the status quo at the time, but effectively highlighted the product volume we needed to convey.
We achieved this without overcomplicating the message, using great reference images
that showcased denim details in a fun and dynamic way.
We settled on a primary concept direction that was shot in a studio with clean, colourful paper roll backdrops. This highlighted denim details, allowed us to easily position type in post, maintained visual consistency, and enabled quick model changes on shoot day.
→
→
A typically “traditional and safe” campaign concept was commonly used for the in-store window posters at the time, as the client always insisted on having the product prominently featured at a large scale.
TYPOGRAPHY
As these ideas came together, our overall design and creative direction began to take shape. However we needed to solve the ‘typographic glue’ that would hold this all together.
Once again, we went back to the loft to solve this as a team.
Our typographic choice had to be a free font that worked well across all digital platforms like the Jay Jays website.
We were looking for an impactful, contemporary typeface that had good contrast, hierarchy, legibility, and had good universality.
We settled on the quintessential; Helvetica Neue Condensed, for its tall x-height in all-caps, and for overall visual impact.
By minimising location changes, we streamlined our production process and complemented the studio shots with clean exterior locations to highlight the denim
for supporting campaign collateral.
It was an elegant solution to our brief that combined multiple elements. We were vulnerable in selling this concept into the client, which enabled him to then go and up-sell it to his superiors for a rare approval at the time. This is what a win looked like to us.
THE IDEA:
A 3x3 grid to use across the 4x main window posters, and various sizes of, with centralised type in a tone of voice that spoke to our customers directly about denim. This conceptual grid approach also acted as unique design system that we could scale across all assets.
✔️
✔️
My sketch of our bold idea for the campaign design and creative direction that was presented then selected to highlight volume.
COLOUR
The client initially wanted to use the stereotypical “Denim Blue” as the main campaign colour. However, given our modular grid approach, we had to convince him that this could be too visually overwhelming against the product on a larger scale.
We ultimately agreed on a multi-coloured approach that provided more visual balance, with a Denim Blue included but not used in overly dominant way.
6. FINAL DESIGN & CREATIVE DIRECTION SUMMARY
The end result was a highly engaging campaign aesthetic that juxtaposed collages and grids with a clean, contemporary typographic approach. This created dynamic visual impact, allowing customers to instantly identify the types of denim they were viewing.
7. MAIN DESIGN CHALLENGES & LEARNINGS
SUMMARY
Situation:
Task:
Actions:
Results:
My Learnings:
My design, creative and production experience up until this point of my career further enhanced my role as an agile Creative Lead and Coach on this project.
Though managing detailed design and creative deliverables and goals across large teams taught me the value of empowering and trusting my team, leading with empathy, and the benefit of aligning continuous decision making with the original brief.
By fostering creative freedom and embracing all levels of problem-solving and design craft, I ensured the campaign developed successfully in a fast-paced environment with minimal issues and tight deadlines.
Managing a rapidly growing list of design deliverables across multiple teams, tracking
real-time changes, and balancing creative and client expectations.
Implement new project management efficiencies and communication strategies to keep the project and its design deliverables on track without overwhelming the agency team.
1. We quickly implemented cloud-based project management software, managed by myself and my Senior Account Director.
2. We held 15-minute mini WIPs with the agency team every two days to stay on top of client changes and requests.
3. We created three designated project Slack channels (digital, print, production) for all internal communications, centralising decision-making, task delegation, brief writing, updates and feedback all in one place.
4. To compliment this, we handled all external communications via email with one source, the Senior Account Director.
5. I encouraged my team to stay creatively spontaneous and experimental after finalising our campaign strategy, advancing our concept both visually and conceptually, as seen in this final case study. I also extended this approach to the photographer during the shoot, allowing him to showcase his unique style thus adding further creative depth and personality to the campaign.
1. We encountered very few internal and external project management related hiccups from start to finish (and were all minor).
2. My internal agency team were not overwhelmed with any jobs/tasks or briefs as they were deliberately left out of certain communications or problems which let them focus on delivering design work.
3. All aspects of both shoot productions were managed with great attention to detail, planning, and effective communications. Nothing was missed; everything worked smoothly, and the client was very happy with the calibre and quantity of content that was delivered.
4. My team and I expanded on our initial concept, originally planning for 1x blue paper roll and 2x locations. However, we ended up using 3x different coloured paper rolls across 2x locations, resulting in a greater variety of creative deliverables that are conveyed in the final campaign look & feel.
The goal of the content shoot was to convey fun and dynamic shots in various locations that hero’d and highlighted the Denim first. A quick summary includes:
8. CONTENT & PRODUCTION SUMMARY
2x shoots (internal & external)
2x locations
3x different location aesthetics
4x models per shoot
Post-production was managed remotely during early Covid
VM & light-box components made and installed by Jay Jays staff across their 5x ‘top stores’.
35x Denim styles to capture
135+ Denim washes to convey
200+ retouched images delivered
Over 5,500 stills to go through for the shoot edit (which was my responsibility to complete and deliver post-shoot)
6x variations of window poster grids were built and supplied as finished art files that went to over 260x stores in 2x countries with accompanying window decals.
Situation:
Task:
Actions:
Results:
My Learnings:
Losing track of what styles and washes of Denim to convey across window posters without missing any.
Determine how to track denim styles and washes during the shoot and manage them in post-production.
1. I mapped out a timeline working backwards from the shoot date to manage the process.
2. I created a live Excel document with my Senior Account Director as our ‘one source of truth’ for tracking shot numbers, denim styles, and their placement in each window poster grid.
3. We used contemporary and engaging image references to highlight product details and showcase denim diversity for the client.
4. We set a cut-off deadline with the client to finalise denim styles and washes three days before the shoot.
5. Once approved, I had my team convert the live Excel document into a detailed 70-page shot list, covering location, paper-roll colour, model, denim type, denim wash, styling, and poses.
6. I empowered my Art Director to approve shots and take notes during both shoots.
7. The team and I developed a unique file naming structure for the shoots, implemented by the digital operator.
Both shoots went smoothly, with no denim styles missed.
Post-production was seamless, thanks to our clear file naming structure and detailed briefs. Shoot notes clarified any confusion about denim types and shot numbers, ensuring everything matched perfectly.
During the edits, I used live dynamic numbers in InDesign to confirm shot numbers, eliminating all human error.
Both teams enjoyed a ‘mostly’ stress-free creative process.
The client received great praise upon returning to the office, as our delivery exceeded expectations. We aimed for their success, and we achieved it!
9. MAIN PRODUCTION CHALLENGES & LEARNINGS SUMMARY
Refining my skills as a Creative Lead over the years helped sharpen my ability to manage complex data, deliverables, and problem-solving, ensuring the smooth and efficient delivery of the creative assets required for the success of this campaign.
I gained more expertise in project and people management, further validating my ability to think on my feet, collaborate effectively, and oversee complex deliverables and problems with large teams.
Coaching and educating external teams with our pre-production approach further contributed to the project’s success in a fast-paced environment.
Effective team and project management is key to keeping clients satisfied!
10: RESULTS & GENERAL LEARNINGS SUMMARY
Our bold creative approach not only met but exceeded the client’s desired objectives and outcomes.
The client, along with their supporting media partners reported the following successful metrics from the 2020 Meet our Denim campaign.
Being the Creative Lead on this project not only enhanced my expertise in managing large brand campaigns, crafting creative direction and embracing vulnerability by taking design risks, but also detailed design and production management, and improving team management efficiencies.
My conceptual approach, along with my detailed planning and leadership skills significantly contributed to the project’s success from start to finish.
The skills and experiences I gained from this project greatly influenced my creative practice, paving the way for diverse contract opportunities in my future career.