During my time at GUESS? as a Brand Partnerships Graphic Design Intern, I was trusted to direct a project in which I acted as the creative lead on a social marketing rollout for GUESS Originals’ carpenter jeans. I was to work on a team with other interns to bring this project from product to concept to execution in only 10 weeks. The result was WHAT MAKES YOU ORIGINAL?, a campaign created for GUESS Originals to promote their signature carpenter pant for not only its fashionability but for its functionality as well.
As a product, not only are carpenter jeans stylish, but also adaptable to active everyday lifestyles. To appeal to a wider range of influencers that create on a daily basis, this campaign highlights the functionality of the carpenter jeans within the daily lives of Gen Z creatives, all while remaining true to GUESS denim heritage.
Using the bodies of actual craftspeople rather than having models wear the carpenters, each individual person was photographed performing the actions of their craft. The specific roles represented in this campaign were STYLIST, BAKER, HIKER, GARDENER, PAINTER, and DANCER. The pants were then styled excessively to show the storage capabilities and versatility of the carpenter jeans. Focusing on the details of the pants such as the hammer loop, 10 different pockets, and comfortable waistband, the campaign aims to focus on the pants themselves while maintaining a universal relatability through visibly seeing the pants styled with common use items and never seeing the faces of the specific people wearing them.
The campaign photography is clean to get clear shots of the areas of interest on the pants. All props were sustainably sourced, using items found around the GUESS? campus and donations from our colleagues. The shots tell the stories of various craftspeople through the ways in which they interact with the carpenters. For the sake of visibility and diversity, we took ensemble shots showing each of the roles in one image.
The primary social platform used in this campaign was Instagram, so social tiles were formatted to fit reels, stories, and feed. The strategy behind the feed posts was displaying the pants and their attributes without breaking the flow of the current GUESS Originals feed. Utilizing carousels, we encourage the user to swipe further, revealing more details of the pants.
To account for a potential physical launch, mannequins would be styled as if they were using the carpenters for
practicality. The clothed mannequins would be displayed with the actual props from the campaign shoot to liven the windows. Boards with our brand marks would be hung in front of the mannequins to bring focus back to the hand drawn authenticity of the campaign. Our campaign video, seen in the background, would also be playing in store.
Prior to pitching this project for launch, two of the photos I directed were selected to accompany the visual merchandising of GUESS Originals Fall 2022 collection in the La Cienega store. These are real photos from the carpenter jean section of the store where these images were displayed for Fall 2022.
I had the privilege of working with the following individuals to put the puzzle pieces together, and this project would cease to exist without their geniuses:
COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR Brazil Richards STYLIST Yianni Binaris PHOTO COORDINATOR Tyra Keetin PHOTOGRAPHER Dave Tada TYPOGRAPHER Jaz Ho LICENSING DESIGNER Jannica Seraypheap STOREFRONT DESIGNER Nishtha Nanda VIDEOGRAPHER Adam Vossen VIDEO PA Olivia Holley CONTENT SPECIALIST Will Solomon SOCIAL MEDIA COORDINATOR Alessia Renna PR SPECIALIST
Kaylani Parks INFLUENCER MARKETING Sakshi Joglekar MODELS Brazil Richards Jannica Seraypheap Yianni Binaris Sofija Ninness Will Solomon Kaylani Parks Taylor Goudreau Grayson Strauss