Category: Brand Marketing

RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2023

Posted on by Elizabeth Willis

This year, I had the privilege of being part of the team working at RHS Chelsea Flower Show – the world’s most famous flower show! As a member of the Brand Team, it was extremely rewarding to see our new brand come to life at the show. 

Preparation for the Chelsea starts months in advance. I worked closely with our design studio and RHS Shows teams to create all the RHS-branded touchpoints, and it was wonderful to see the success of our collective efforts. The vision for the new RHS brand was to infuse it with more vibrancy, youthfulness and excitement – which our bright purple assets certainly achieved. It was especially exciting to receive praise from our department director and the RHS Council.

Our core focus at the showground was leading two photoshoots. I organised our professional photoshoot on Monday, coordinating with model agencies to hire two fantastic models who embodied the RHS brand. On Tuesday, our dedicated small team scouted members of the public to capture enjoying the show. Both shoots were a huge success; we captured an extensive variety of on-brand images, which will be key in promoting future RHS Chelsea Flower Shows in 2024 and beyond.

My two days at Chelsea were hugely enjoyable and professionally fulfilling. Seeing our brand flourish at such an iconic event, after many months of hard work, was a truly unforgettable experience! 

RHS Malvern Spring Festival 2023

Posted on by Elizabeth Willis

To kick off the 2023 show season, I had the opportunity to visit RHS Malvern Spring Festival in the Midlands. It was my first time at the show, and I was impressed by its size and popularity, as well as its beautiful location at the foot of the Malvern Hills.

I spent a day at the showground conducting an extensive branding review. The festival is unique at the RHS; it has been run in partnership with the Three Counties since 1985. As part of the new RHS brand, Malvern Festival was given its own identity – the vibrant blue from the main brand, combined with its own unique master pattern and a rhododendron botanical. It was fantastic to see how impactful the new brand was onsite, and how cohesively all the assets worked together. 

Following the show, I created a brand review to present back to the Brand and Shows Marketing teams. After collating our feedback, we’ll be sharing this presentation with the RHS Shows and Three Counties departments, recommending our improvements for 2024.  

Winter lifestyle shoot at RHS Garden Bridgewater

Posted on by Elizabeth Willis

In January 2023, I had the amazing opportunity to visit RHS Garden Bridgewater for the first time, on set for a winter lifestyle photoshoot. 

I organised the shoot, working with model agencies to hire two sets of professional models for the day — two friends and a family with two daughters. The aim of the shoot was to capture people enjoying the garden during its “off-season”, showcasing it as a great choice for a winter day out. We were extremely lucky with the weather – after a rainy start, the sun blazed through the clouds and shone all afternoon. 

First, we asked the two friends to explore the beautiful colours and textures of the walled Paradise Garden, one of the highlights of Bridgewater. In the afternoon, we went over to the Woodland Play area with the family, which the children absolutely loved. We were even visited by an inquisitive robin — no doubt used to the gardeners digging up tasty worms!

The models were fantastic, and we almost took too many images for our photographer to edit. The final photos looked brilliant in our winter campaigns and social posts, and played their part in Bridgewater reaching a huge milestone in May 2023: on the garden’s second birthday, they welcomed their 1 millionth visitor!

Photoshoot at RHS Glow 2022

Posted on by Elizabeth Willis

In November 2022, I organised my first photoshoot on behalf of the RHS brand team. 

In preparation, I created a survey which I shared with local RHS Members and garden visitors, collecting volunteers to model in the shoot. We selected a family of four and two couples/a group of friends – two target audiences for our Glow campaigns. 

Capturing RHS Glow comes with its own unique set of challenges. As our photographer explained to me, even hundreds of years of camera development can’t always replicate what millions of years of evolution have done for our eyes! 

On the day of our photoshoot, the event was already open, which meant setting up shots around a stream of visitors. Whilst the misty weather created a gorgeous atmosphere in the garden, it did pose some technical challenges for our photographer. It was also our first time shooting with younger children — who were not used to standing very still in front of the camera with a slow shutter speed! 

However, great teamwork helped us overcome these difficulties and the shoot was both a huge success and a great learning opportunity. We captured some amazing photographs to use in marketing the event for 2023, but also took away some key ideas for future shoots. For example, for shoots we think might be more challenging, we’ll hire professional models who have more experience on set. And when working with families and younger children, it’s helpful to have a secret pack of Haribo to hand…

FRA Online Course Guide 2022-23

Posted on by Elizabeth Willis

Following the launch of our new online courses in 2022, I adapted our current prospectus to create an Online Course guide. It includes all the pages from the main prospectus that would be relevant to a student studying remotely at the FRA, as well as information specific to our online course offering.

See the FRA Online Course Guide 2022-23

FRA Prospectus 2022-23

Posted on by Elizabeth Willis

Part of my role at the Fashion Retail Academy is the management of the Prospectus project every year. I source, edit and write the content to be included in the prospectus, working with teams across the Academy.

During the summer of 2021, I also created the graphic design for the 2022-23 Prospectus using Adobe InDesign. When the project was complete, I worked with our printing agency to make sure the final products were printed to our specifications and budget. We printed 3,000 copies in two print runs, in October 2021 and January 2022.

See the full copy of the FRA Prospectus 2022-23

FRA Tone of Voice Guidelines

Posted on by Elizabeth Willis

When I started at the Fashion Retail Academy in June 2021, my first task was to create the Tone of Voice guidelines. I researched other brands I thought had a strong Tone of Voice and used their guides as inspiration to create my own. I wrote the guidelines for the FRA and then designed the document using Adobe InDesign.

After sharing the guide with the rest of my marketing team, I continue to be the guardian of our tone of voice, making sure all our marketing communications follow the specifications.

The Wildlife Festival Capsule Collection from Pretty Little Thing – Posters

Posted on by Elizabeth Willis

As part of my Final Major Project at university, I produced a new creative marketing campaign for Pretty Little Thing. My campaign idea was supported by research undertaken in the Individual Project Report and draws on elements of experiential marketing at music festivals.

The core of my idea was a collaboration between Pretty Little Thing (PLT), the glitter brand Dust & Dance and Wildlife Festival. The campaign would include a capsule collection of festival clothing and accessories, demonstrated by the lookbook. This collection would be launched and initially sold exclusively at Wildlife Festival. Customers would be able to visit the PLT activation at the festival, where they can browse and buy the collection. Three famous bloggers (Em Davies, Mika Francis and Carms London) would be there to meet customers and act as ‘personal shoppers’ to help them choose their new festival outfits. Dust & Dance would also be present to provide customers with glitter hair and makeup. This is illustrated by the concept art. This activation would allow customers to create a positive emotional connection with the PLT brand, as they would have the opportunity to have a festival makeover, styled by their favourite bloggers. After the festival, the collection would then be made available online.

The campaign would be promoted across the brand’s digital touchpoints including social media, website and email marketing. These three posters are an example of how the collection and festival activation could be promoted.

In order to create my posters, I styled three models with Dust & Dance glitter makeup and photographed them. I then photoshopped these images with second-hand imagery of festivals to create a double exposure effect. I then placed these images into a poster design I had created, inspired by an image I found on Pinterest. I was particularly proud of this element of my creative campaign.

The Wildlife Festival Capsule Collection from Pretty Little Thing – Lookbook

Posted on by Elizabeth Willis

As part of my Final Major Project at university, I produced an idea for a new creative marketing campaign for Pretty Little Thing. My campaign idea was supported by research undertaken in the Individual Project Report and draws on elements of experiential marketing at music festivals. I received a high first for this assignment.

The core of my idea was a collaboration between Pretty Little Thing (PLT), glitter brand Dust & Dance and Wildlife Festival. The campaign will include a capsule collection of festival clothing and accessories. To demonstrate this, I created a large concertina lookbook (11.5in2) of images of products and outfits from the PLT website I felt would fit within the collection. I styled and creatively directed a photoshoot on Southampton Common in order to capture my images; I was also photographer. Selected pages from the lookbook can be seen below.

This collection was designed to be launched and initially sold exclusively at Wildlife Festival. Customers would be able to visit the PLT activation at the festival, where they could browse and buy the collection. Three famous bloggers (Em Davies, Mika Francis and Carms London) would there to meet customers and act as ‘personal shoppers’ to help them choose their new festival outfits. Dust & Dance would also be present to provide customers with glitter hair and makeup. This is illustrated by the concept art. This activation would allow customers to create a positive emotional connection with the PLT brand, as they would have the opportunity to have a festival makeover, styled by their favourite bloggers. After the festival, the collection would then be made available online.

The campaign would be promoted across the brand’s digital touchpoints including social media, website and email marketing. I made three posters as an example of how the collection and festival activation could be promoted.

 

 

For a full copy of this lookbook, please email me at elizabethrubyy@yahoo.com

Festival Season – Individual Project Report

Posted on by Elizabeth Willis

As part of my Final Major Project at university, I produced a 5,000-word Individual Project Report. I presented this report in the style of a magazine, entitled ‘Festival Season’, which explored the following question:

Brands like H&M, Sephora and Revolve have been capitalising on the opportunities created by music festivals like Coachella in the US. Can British brands create similar opportunities at UK festivals?

My essay investigated the shift away from traditional forms of marketing towards experiential marketing, and the increasing importance of creating brand experiences around a product for the millennial consumer. With this in mind, the report then explored the opportunities created by music festivals as a venue for experiential marketing to UK consumers. Events such as these are ripe for development by UK brands, as demonstrated by the huge success of brand activations at US festivals, most notably Coachella. The focus of the report was on the marketing opportunities presented by music festivals, either by a brands having a physical presence at events or by them harnessing the interest in festival season to promote products. Selected pages from the essay can be seen below.

Alongside my Individual Project Report, I produced a creative campaign demonstrating my idea for a new creative marketing campaign for Pretty Little Thing that draws on elements of experiential marketing at music festivals explored in the report. The core of my idea was a collaboration between Pretty Little Thing, glitter brand Dust & Dance and Wildlife Festival. My creative campaign included a capsule collection of festival clothing and accessories, illustrated in a lookbook; concept art depicting the launch activation at Wildlife Festival and a series of posters to support promotion across the brand’s digital touchpoints.

I received a high first for this assignment.

Although most of the report contained second-hand imagery, I used my own image of Wildlife Festival on page 68.

 

For a full copy of this report, please email me at elizabethrubyy@yahoo.com