Unwrapping Success: A Holiday Brand Campaign That Drove Shoppers to Local Markets
‘Tis the season for stress shopping for that sister-in-law who might like cats!
Artists & Fleas’s local maker markets, the perfect holiday shopping destinations, needed a standout campaign to cut through the overwhelming city street advertisements and online competition. To achieve this, I led the end-to-end execution of a brand marketing campaign designed to drive traffic to their markets in New York City, Los Angeles, and Atlanta.
The campaign paired eye-catching visuals with simple graphic design across digital and print channels, including a paid ad campaign and a wheatpasting splash. To showcase the unique, beautifully crafted products in the markets, I developed a content strategy featuring digital gift guides with keyword-driven descriptions and authentic imagery, along with a targeted email series. By the time New Year’s Eve arrived, digital engagement was up, and holiday shopping traffic surpassed the previous year.
The Details
Project Type:
Creative Direction
Email Marketing
Multi-channel campaign
Deliverables:
Photography
Digital Gift Guides
Social campaign
Paid Meta Campaigns
Email Marketing
Brand: Artists & Fleas
The Audience: Anyone with a holiday shopping list, but more specifically women ages 25-40
The Full Picture
The background: Nowhere is the holiday shopping season more alive than on the streets of NYC—except, of course, with Amazon and other online retailers. Artists & Fleas is the antithesis of all this: a local market and haven for those seeking unique gifts made by small, local businesses. The best part? You can get most of your shopping done in one stop.
The Challenge: NYC is a shopping mecca, with advertisements everywhere you turn—from the subways to the sides of buildings to your Instagram feed. Artists & Fleas needed to stand out.
The Ask: The objective was to develop a brand marketing campaign that would cut through the noise during the holiday season and drive traffic to their markets in New York City, Los Angeles, and Atlanta.
Project Details: I started by collaborating with a local photographer and stylist to create eye-catching photography that featured local products with an elevated, editorial touch. Based on my creative direction for the campaign, the stunning visuals were paired with simple graphic design and executed across digital and print channels, including a wheatpasting splash and a paid digital ad campaign, which amplified awareness in the local markets and led to an increase in shopper traffic. Additional components included:
Digital Gift Guides: Beyond capturing attention, we needed to demonstrate the value of Artists & Fleas by showcasing the wide range of beautifully crafted products available in our markets. To achieve this, we created a series of digital gift guides featuring keyword-driven descriptions to capture local organic traffic, paired with images sourced directly from the brands to add a touch of authenticity (it is a maker’s market, after all!). These guides were further amplified through a strategic email series throughout the season.
Email Campaign: From Thanksgiving through New Year's, we sent over 15 emails to our shoppers, using a mix of visual and messaging formats. This included a roundup of gift ideas, promotion of digital gift guides, and more general holiday messages.
Paid Campaign: We launched ads on Facebook and Instagram across our three key markets, using a variety of editorial images, videos, and product carousels. To stand out from online retailers, we focused our messaging on supporting small businesses, shopping local, giving unique gifts, and offering one-stop shopping.
Results: Our digital channels experienced increased engagement and our markets were filled with holiday shoppers, surpassing traffic from previous years.
