Protector of the Brand
CLIENT: RED VELVET (in-house)
ROLE: Brand Management, Marketing, Advertising, Graphic Design, Proposals, Art Direction, Videography
Joining the RED VELVET team in August of 2021 was one of the most exciting days of my career. Not only was I introduced to a small group of incredible people, but I was also thrust into the world of experiential marketing, events, SXSW, and brand development. My role as the sole marketing manager was… well— everything. My background in art direction and graphic design made me an essential and diverse employee who floated across every department depending on need. I completed brand research, developed the templates needed to pitch and secure new business, maintained and then redesigned an entire website, and I don’t even know what else; the list is infinite in a company of less than 20 people.
I am immensely proud of the clients, partners, and vendors I worked with, and the experiences I gained at this boutique agency. Most importantly, I am grateful for my growing expertise in the hospitality, experiential, and SXSW industry through RED VELVET.
After my initial market research on competing agencies, one thing became apparent to me: We needed to overhaul our presentation.
I spent weeks formatting, writing, and gathering data to create a stunning deck of over 50 program case studies, proposal slides, company history, capabilities, and so much more. In conclusion, we had about 62 case studies and a proposal/ general capabilities deck of over 80 slides for account managers to curate for prospective clients.
Proposals, Pitch Decks, & Case Studies… Oh My
Sizzles Galore…
RED VELVET Sizzle Reel • 2023
What is marketing without sizzle reels? Boring paragraphs about how clients had so and so expectations and we did so and so to meet them? NO. Video collateral is the most versatile and enticing of all types of media.
Being the only RED VELVET team member allocated to marketing, it was my job to create a process for media coverage. I was responsible for securing photographers and videographers, writing shot lists, and offering creative direction. However, working for a boutique agency comes with some additional hurdles.
Often we had to allocate our resources incredibly deliberately, that being said, most of the time it was me with my Cannon Rebel, Mini Osmos, GoPro, or gimble setup content capturing, editing, animating with After Effects, or sound mixing. I leaned heavily on my experiences at the ENI department at Georgia State to help me push out professional quality content not just for internal purposes, but also for client use.
BLAVITY's Afrotech Conference • 2023
Austin PBS Grand Opening • 2022
Tito's Big Adventure • 2022
The RED VELVET website
It seems that any time a graphic designer is born a countdown clock to their first website design appears over their head. At this point in my career, I’ve designed, developed, and maintained dozens of sites for a variety of industries. The RED VELVET site was a labor of love. The copywriting was a challenge as were some of the custom coding elements but in the end, I was proud of the final result and how it showcased the RED VELVET brand.
View the full RED VELVET site.
(last updated by me April, 2024)
Always looking our best.
What’s the first step in feeling your best? It’s looking your best. Tasked with showcasing our slick RED VELVET team at SXSW 2024, I designed a brand kit worth the “SWAG” title. Port Authority custom embroidered jackets with black-on-black thread from a local seamstress who did our DELTA @ SXSW bandanas. Shout out to The Monogram Lady for the quick turnaround. For the bandanas, I wove in as many RED VELVET easter eggs as possible. From the triple hump shape of the office building, abstract marks from the RV lettermark logo, and of course, Jack the Jackalope footprints, antlers, and their likeness. My local printing partner, Industry Print Shop, turned these bandanas around in record time. It allowed our team to not just look incredible for SXSW, but also gave us the confidence to represent our agency tastefully and with pride.
Digital & Print Advertisements…
One of the most common phrases I heard at RED VELVET when I first joined was, “We have never paid for marketing in 20 years. RED VELVET has always been word-of-mouth.” Thats great! And totally works for small businesses, but when RV set out to become a fish in a much bigger pond, it was clear we needed to up-level our marketing.
To set into motion some smaller budget print and digital advertisements, I started running annual ads in EventMarketer Magazine. In addition to the bi-annual mailers for holidays or company achievements. (Ask me about the nail-art themed Holiday cards at your own risk)
Jacky the Jackalope… Here, there, and everywhere.
OK, so— let’s dip our toe into Instagram marketing with some super fun animations using Jacky the Jackalope. This was all done in-house by yours truly. I utilized After Effects, PremierePro, and just about every other application my computer could run at once to pull this series off. We ran a total of seven ads in seven unique cities promoting our website and IG profile. The ROI was a success with over 500 followers gained in a matter of weeks and three direct leads coming from brands that wanted to work with us.
