JAY JAYS
→ A case study for Canva
MEET OUR DENIM
CAMPAIGN 2020
→ QUESTION:
A project that demonstrates your knowledge and experiences relevant to the Design Lead - Elements role.
→ CLIENT & DELIVERABLES SUMMARY
Client: Jay Jays
Campaign: Meet our Denim
Location: Australia & New Zealand
Agency: The Reactor
Role: Creative Lead
→ BUSINESS BRIEF SUMMARY
Get
Who
To
By
Jay Jays
Have an overwhelming and confusing amount of Denim styles
for their customers…
1) Bring more clarity to their new Denim range, and…
2) Sell more Denim.
1) Coming up with an easy way to sell high volumes of various new Denim styles to their customers, and…
2) Make this the brand’s biggest Denim launch ever (increase ROI).
→ CUSTOMER-FACING BRIEF SUMMARY
Get
Who
To
By
Tweens and teens’ aged between 11–19 years…
Need or want to buy new Denim…
Buy their new Denim from Jay Jays…
Showing them Jay Jays is their number one destination to buy new Denim, and inspiring them with their new, large range of Denim, in the easiest way possible.
→ AGENCY TEAM SUMMARY
→ PRODUCTION TEAM SUMMARY
1. CAMPAIGN STRATEGY →
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.
We landed on an inviting yet simple and powerful creative platform and campaign name that ticked all of the boxes with regards to implying the wide range of Denim styles Jay Jays were selling during this campaign:
MEET OUR DENIM
2. CONCEPT →
My team and I collaborated on the brief and came up with an easy way we could go about ‘highlighting the volume of Denim Jay Jays needed to sell’, without over-thinking it or over-complicating the brief, and also by utilising great reference images that highlighted denim-details.
The answer was a 3x3 grid to use across the 4x main window posters, and various sizes of.
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We landed on primary concept that was shot on a clean paper roll backdrop within a studio environment using various paper-roll colours, which allowed us to still hold type anywhere over the image, and also allowed us to get models in and out of shots quickly on the shoot day to efficiency.
This helped us avoid a large number of location changes. We then combined this aesthetic this with assorted location shots on a clean exterior to highlight the denim for supporting campaign collateral.
✔️
✔️
3. DESIGN & CREATIVE DIRECTION →
The end-result was a juxtaposing and highly engaging campaign aesthetic that was driven by collages and grids with a clean and contemporary typographic approach that helped customers immediately learn about the types of Denim they were looking at.
→ VISUAL SUMMARY & CAMPAIGN TOV
The campaign name ‘MEET OUR DENIM’ helped us underpin the large number of Denim styles that we had to convey in a simple way.
We decided to do this using ‘real names’ to relate to the customer directly, and was easy for them to remember.
This also helped inform the TOV for the campaign, where we utilised first person to talk directly to our customers (IE: what’s your wash?…).
→ IN-STORE and VM SUMMARY
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MAIN DESIGN
MANAGEMENT
CHALLENGES
I had on this project were…
Situation
Task
Actions
Results
Learnings
My extensive design knowledge and production experience in the creative industry up until this point further enhanced my role as a more agile Creative Lead and Coach on this project.
Through solving and managing numerous detailed deliverables across large teams, I learned the value of empowering and trusting my team(s) without micro-managing, leading with empathy, and aligning decisions back to the campaign brief.
By fostering creative freedom and problem-solving within the team, I ensured the campaign could still develop along the way, to deliver a successful project in a fast-paced environment with minimal hiccups and short time frames.
The accelerated speed our list of production deliverables grew by in a very short amount of time.
Keeping track of all deliverables and statuses across the agency team, the production team and the post-production team as they changed in real-time, whilst also managing creative and client expectations.
Implement new project management efficiencies and effective communication strategies for all moving parts of the project whilst not letting my agency team feel overwhelmed.
Immediately implemented cloud-based project management software (as we had none at the time), and managed by two sources. Myself and the SNR Account Director.
We ran 15 minute ‘mini WIPS’ with the internal agency team every two days to stay on top of changes.
Kept all internal agency communications linked through only 3x Slack channels
(digital, print, production). This allowed all decision making, assigning jobs, delegating tasks, writing briefs, giving rounds of feedback etc to be in one main place/source. (Instead of spread across different apps and mediums).We kept all external agency and production communications via email only, and with one source (the SNR Account Director).
I encouraged my team to maintain creative spontaneity during the concept and design phase, fostering experimentation and ‘play’ after settling on an initial strategy. This approach helped us push the concept forward visually and conceptually, and I extended the same brief to the photographer during the shoot.
We encountered very few internal and external project management related hiccups from start to finish (and were all minor).
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.
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.
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 purpose of the content shoot was to convey fun and dynamic shots
in various locations that hero’d and highlighted Denim first. A quick summary includes:
4. CONTENT & DESIGN PRODUCTION →
2x shoots
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
50+ retouched images delivered
Over 5,500 stills to go through for the shoot edit
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
Learnings
Losing track of what styles and washes of Denim to convey across window posters without missing any.
Figure out how we could easily keep track of the number of Denim styles and washes we had to capture on the day, and also manage in post-production.
I decided the best approach would be to work backwards from the shoot date to determine a timeline of how this could be achieved and managed.
I then built and managed a live Excel document with my SNR Account Director which was our ‘one source of truth’ to keep track of shot numbers and which exact pair of ‘Denim-style and wash’ we needed to be captured and the position that image sat in each window poster grid.
We used great image references that allowed us to highlight specific product details on any style of denim to convey product & aesthetic diversity for the client.
We worked with the client to determine a cut-off deadline to confirm all Denim styles and washes we needed to capture 3x days out before the shoot.
Once approved, I gave my team the green light to turn the live Excel document into a detailed 70x page shot list (our master document) for both shoot days. Broken down by location, paper-roll colour, model, Denim, styling and pose references.
I empowered my Art Director on both shoots to be in charge of approving shots as they came through on-screen, and to take notes relating to each shot if anything changed.
The team and I came up with a unique file naming structure to use during both shoots. This was then actioned by the digital operator on both days.
Both shoots ran very smoothly. The internal and external teams didn’t miss one single pair of Denim we needed to capture.
Everything was managed seamlessly in post-production thanks to our easy-to-follow file naming structure and detailed post-production briefs.
Shoot notes from the day managed any confusion about different types of denim Vs specific shot numbers when the time came to do both shoot edits. Everything matched and nothing was missing ✔️
When doing the shoot edits, shot numbers/file names were 100% confirmed by using live-numbers in InDesign (instead of copying and pasting shot numbers or typing them out manually below an image). This allowed for zero human error.
Both internal and external teams enjoyed the creative process and shoot days with minimal stress.
The client looked like a hero upon returning to the office (or so we heard), as nobody thought he nor us could deliver what we had agreed on. We wanted our client to win!
→
MAIN PRODUCTION
MANAGEMENT
CHALLENGES
I had on this project were…
After years of refining various skill sets as a Creative Lead on-set, managing production/creative teams, and leading campaigns, I've developed a keen ability to handle the analytical details and problem-solving required to deliver a substantial number of content and creative assets on projects like this one, ensuring smooth and efficient operations without any major issues across the creative and production processes.
Over the years, these skills and experiences have laid the groundwork for the project and people management aspect of my practice. The lessons from this project helped validate my ability to think on my feet, collaborate effectively, and oversee complex deliverables with large teams.
I further added to my experience as a Creative Lead through coaching and educating the external teams with our detailed pre-production management approach. This helped everyone deliver a successful project in a fast-paced environment with time constraints.
Effective team and project management helps keep the client happy!
5. REPORTING →
The client, along with our agency and media partners reported the following metrics from the 2020 Meet our Denim campaign.
6. Summary →
Being the Creative Lead on this project help push and develop my knowledge and experience in complex design and production management challenges, as well as efficiencies in team management.
I made a direct impact to the success of the entire project from start to finish through detailed and analytical planning and leading others.
The skills and experience I gained on this project had a huge impact on my creative practise when I started taking on contract roles. This helped open up more diverse creative opportunities.