Neon Shoot - Past Marketing Experience

Visual assets for a new eyewear collection

I led the creative and production of assets to launch new eyewear products of the season used by global teams across digital and retail.

Results

5%

increase in CVR of homepage

25%

in cost savings of Total project budget

3%

increase in lead time per project

About JINS

JINS is a fashion eyewear brand offering prescription glasses with functional design.

Located in San Francisco with 6 stores in CA and over 609 stores globally (Japan, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Philippines).

Duration

2.5 months

Neon Photoshoot mockup of desktop and mobile - a project from JINS Eyewear by Kathleen Murillo
icon my role puzzle shape

My Role

  • I directed the visual campaign, collaborating with global team leadership and VP of Marketing.
  • I led the Creative Team end-to-end. I produced the shoot with our Production Manager.
  • From pre-production to post, I project managed all key phases of the shoot, budget and schedule.
  • To maximize budget, we integrated a live launch event in tandem which I planned and executed.
icon people - the team

The Team

JINS US
VP of Marketing, President & Ecommerce Head, Merchandising Director
Global Teams
China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Philippines
Creative Team
Photographer, Models (Talent), Production Manager, Wardrobe Stylist, Hair and Makeup Artist, Set Designer, Digital Tech, Production Assistant
Event Team
Marketing and Store Operations

icon tool - skills

Skills

  • Creative Direction
  • Creative Project Management
  • Photoshoot Production
Model posing at Neon photoshoot - a project from JINS Eyewear by Kathleen Murillo

The Process

Overview

A need for creating visual assets that increase conversion

JINS was preparing to launch their new collection of eyewear products for the Summer season. All global teams, including the US, needed visual assets to use in their respective upcoming campaigns across digital and retail.

The goal of this project was to create impactful visual assets that increase conversion and are delivered efficiently.

The Challenge

An undefined visual strategy prevents converting audience

All global teams, including our US team, were looking to create fresh and relatable imagery integrating the new eyewear collection. However, with no clear visual strategy focused on creating valuable content, they aren’t able to convert their target market and best deliver their message. This is a problem because the target audience is less likely to engage with new products, leading to lower conversion rates.

Goals and Objectives

🎯 User and business goals

  • Business Goal: Increase conversion on website, and deliver project under budget and on schedule
  • User Goal: Help users resonate and engage with the branded content

✔️ Objectives

  • Produce visual photo assets from concept to implementation
  • Project manage the full production

Project Scope and Constraints

Tight timeline, budget, and siloed teams

2.5 months

We were faced with a tight timeline

2x less than industry standard

Budget was limited

5 siloed teams

Each global team had differences in opinion of concepts and visual goals

🔍 Research

Market Research to align on core target audiences

We chose to do Secondary Market Research of internal sources given our tight timeline. Historical market data about our business was available.

Global teams aligned on customer segments

Target markets considered were China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Philippines. Each global team had their target audience in mind already prior to the project launch. Our VP of Marketing was the bridge in connecting all teams.

All teams aligned on two target audiences:

  • Millennial Female, Asian demographic
  • Millennial Male, Asian demographic

Expanding outside the US current audience

I found out due to upcoming business expansion goals, we needed to target new demographics outside of our current audience.

To identify those new audiences, we looked into sales data and prioritized demographics close in vicinity to our stores.

We landed on three key target audiences:

  • Millennial Male
  • Gen Z Female
  • Millennial Female

Competitor Analysis to find a visual opportunity

We chose to look into the visual landscape from competitor’s creative campaign imagery, so that we can find an opportunity to create content that was unique and compelling enough to resonate with our customers.

competitor analysis from neon shoot by kathleen murillo portfolio
Visual competitor landscape with a SWOT analysis

Trend Forecasting to identify a target fashion trend

The method of trend forecasting is to find inspiration for upcoming trends of the season. One way is from fashion runway shows. A Summer ‘18 show for instance, would forecast trends for the next summer season in 2019.

I found from our team that we wanted to explore color trends, to complement the minimal look of the new eyewear collection. I started my research narrowing down the top trends from runway shows with online platforms such as Hypebeast and Vogue. Based on the season and target audiences, we went with Neon Streetwear.

Neon Streetwear - combines bright highlighter hues with an elevated yet casual athleisure style

trend forecasting from neon shoot by kathleen murillo portfolio
Three top color trends from fashion runway shows SS19

💭 How might we create a single creative concept to resonate with different global targeted audiences?

💭 How might we showcase the new products in a creative context?

💡 Ideation and Implementation

Three concepts proposed to finalize creative direction

The northstar of our photoshoot is guided by a single creative concept. The challenge was to resonate with all of our global audiences. Based on prior research findings, I developed three concepts to propose to the teams for feedback and buy-in. I also kept in mind the inspiration behind the new eyewear collections to weave within the visual story.

We decided to move forward with the “Colored Acrylic” concept, as it proved to be the most visually striking looking back at our competitor analysis, and would resonate with our audiences from the trend forecasting.

creative concepts from neon shoot by kathleen murillo portfolio
Three mood boards of themes inspired by the neon streetwear trend

Set design explored as a foundation for the visual content

I chose to focus on the set design because it sets the mood and stage for the imagery and other elements will take form after. I explored further the “Colored Acrylic” concept and thought through ideas for the set design experience, including materials, lighting, and props.

set design idea from neon shoot by kathleen murillo portfolio
This idea was too ambitious unfortunately due to team bandwidth and after cost estimates it didn’t fit within our budget

After more explorations, I came across an idea from our initial mood board, a free-standing wall of acrylic and thought to place it behind the model photographed. I explored the neon acrylic materials and tried to think about how we could make this “free-standing.” I found this step was most helpful in explaining when I started to collaborate with our Set Designer later.

set design idea from neon shoot by kathleen murillo portfolio
We moved forward with this idea as it worked better logistically

Mockups helped visualize the set and used as a communication tool

After I started to create a mockup with the actual material of the acrylic neon sheets we would use on a larger scale, as well as mockups of the actual models.

This helped visualize the set and communicate to our set designer about our intent and also the photographer about angles, without actually being there onsite.

mockup prototypes from neon shoot by kathleen murillo portfolio
A mockup of set design and model proposed

Searching for models to fit the target audience

Using our Market Research of the target audiences, I did a talent search from model agencies as well as influencer models. I gathered my insights and proposed them with the team for buy-in.

We settled upon the top candidates who fit the target audience criteria the best as well as budget and timeline, and moved forward following negotiations and onboarding.

model search from neon shoot by kathleen murillo portfolio
Data gathered on potential candidates of influencer and agency models

Identifying and prioritizing photography elements

From the competitor analysis, we took the opportunities from there and integrated them into the photo direction. We focused on photo usage, angle, poses and depth of field. I worked closely with our photographer to align, which helped tremendously during on-set.

Photo Usage

photo usage from neon shoot by kathleen murillo portfolio
Photo usage in final deliverables was important to consider for composition and angles

Angle

photography angles from neon shoot by kathleen murillo portfolio

Photo examples of types of angles preferred

Depth of Field

photography depth of field from neon shoot by kathleen murillo portfolio

In eyewear vertical, depth of field is an important element to highlight the glasses - guidelines here

Poses

photography poses from neon shoot by kathleen murillo portfolio

Examples of type of poses based on competitor analysis previously

Exploring a color concept for the wardrobe

Based on the trend forecasting, we explored the concept of the wardrobe as monotone to match or complement the neon background from the set design. We also considered our competitor analysis, finding the opportunity of “the wardrobe styling could be more on-trend and relatable to the target audience.”

I worked closely with our Wardrobe Stylist to communicate this concept. We scheduled a Fitting a day before the shoot, so we could test out all the options of clothing and glasses pairings with the models.

wardrobe concept from neon shoot by kathleen murillo portfolio
We moved forward with this concept because it highlighted our trend finding of neon streetwear best

Impact and Outcome

Final Visual Assets

neon photoshoot final image portfolio by kathleen murilloneon photoshoot final image portfolio by kathleen murillo
neon photoshoot final image portfolio by kathleen murillo
neon photoshoot final image portfolio by kathleen murillo
neon photoshoot final image portfolio by kathleen murillo
neon photoshoot final image portfolio by kathleen murillo
neon photoshoot final image portfolio by kathleen murillo

For final deliverables of images used across platforms, click Deliverables tab:

View More

Summary

The visual assets helped increase conversion on the US Ecommerce website. The images were used on the homepage hero section for 4 weeks and increased conversion by 2% on average.

Business

  • All teams received their visual assets on schedule in time for their seasonal campaigns, with Lead Time by Project increased by 3%.
  • Cost savings of 25% total budget
  • Implemented a visual strategy as a framework that teams used to guide future photoshoots and create impactful content.

Customers

  • Relatable content helped customers resonate with the brand.

Reflection

Having a visual strategy helps not only the efficiency of creating content, but also aligns all teams in communicating a clear message visually. Most importantly, this trickles down to what the customers sees and interacts with to ultimately help them make an easier purchase decision.

Areas I hoped to gather further insights were in the Discovery phase, especially with the Market Research - digging deeper into each individual country’s target audience might have led to more developed creative concepts. During the trend forecasting, I would’ve liked to do user testing to find which trends resonated most with our target audiences, this could’ve led to stronger relatable content.

Overall, I think this project helped our teams communicate more effectively versus as silos within the organization. I’m excited to apply my skills from creative production into opportunities with user experience design in the future.

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