WINDSOR
CREATIVE DIRECTOR
2019 — 2021
Recruited to help establish the brand strategy, and breath new life into all creative during a period of massive growth for the women’s occasion-driven, fast fashion brand. Windsor was established in 1937 as a formal dress shop, and grew over the decades into the trendy and youthful full lifestyle brand it is today. The need to develop a distinct brand positioning in order to be able to speak about the various occasions / product categories in a cohesive aesthetic voice was paramount.
Reported directly to the president, and was responsible for all visual touchpoints of the brand: print and digital design, photography, video, marketing and social media creative, as well as identity and packaging materials. Modernized and elevated standards for all photography, as well as the brand’s approach to storytelling through still and moving imagery. Updated styling and casting criteria to incorporate current popular trends. Redesigned e-commerce website and user experience, which included a state of the art platform migration. Built out an entirely in-house creative team, which consisted of a fully functional photo studio, a group of designers and art directors, and an editorial copywriter. Established cross-channel brand guidelines for creative consistency.
These brand experience updates (along with parallel marketing department efforts) contributed to an increase of nearly 50% in sales revenue generated by e-com & email compared to LY, in his first year at the Windsor.
CAMPAIGNS &
PHOTOGRAPHY
Reimagined the brand’s approach to storytelling, styling and even how shoots were ideated, produced and executed. Unlike a traditional retail brand with seasonal campaigns, fast fashion retailers refresh their campaigns on a monthly, sometimes weekly basis.
Established new creative standards for product, editorial and campaign photography, and also retouching. Reimagined how locations and props can be used to tell a story. Hired and mentored an in-house team of photographers, as well as personally shooting several editorials and campaigns.
VIDEOS
Brought video creation / production in house for the first time, which allowed for more control over the process and final product, as well as being able to incorporate various types of video across more platforms and touchpoint.
Worked very closely directing the in-house videographer to establish a storytelling style that was not only modern, elevated, and captivating, but also featured the product in detailed ways it hadn’t been before.
SITE REDESIGN
Led the redesign of the brand’s e-commerce website, as well as the migration to a Shopify platform. The previous version of the site only allowed for a single story / campaign to be featured at a time, with zero interactive functionality. The redesign and migration enabled multiple product stories to be featured on the site at once, incorporated full width embedded videos, as well as user controlled animations, shoppable look books, UGC and other interactive functionality. The migration also allowed for a more customized mobile experience than was ever possible before.
The updated site design featured; a sophisticated navigation able to house a generous amount of product categories along with imagery, more in-depth product detail pages with video, product category pages with the ability to feature editorial, promotional, and other types of content within the grid, as well as a blog section (which was a first for the brand).
IDENTITY & BRANDING
Developed new concepts for corporate branding assets, as well as updated retail and e-commerce packaging; a cleaner design with colors and substrates that reference an updated brand strategy and positioning. Additionally, designed the brand’s first ever physical gift card and sleeve collection.
other ACHIEVEMENTS
Managed a 200% increase in flow of new product to the photo studio to be shot and retouched, while simultaneously streamlining the process so images were published on site quicker than in the past.
Established a weekly creative asset review with key stakeholders.
Examined and modified the use of creative budget to do more with less, while maintaining top-notch creative standards.
Implemented the use of branded hashtags for important campaigns.
Built out an entirely in-house creative team.