Realigning Brand, Customer, and Growth
Brand positioning, consumer insight, global marketing strategy, paid media, launches, earned media
The Opportunity
When I joined Marc Jacobs, there was a growing misalignment between the audience the brand was marketing to and the audience buying the product. The work appealed to a niche, fashion-forward subculture, rooted in the brand’s long-standing point of view around fearless individuality. The opportunity was to take that same spirit — joy, individuality, and creative irreverence — and evolve the marketing to appeal to a broader, more commercially relevant audience without losing its edge or aspiration.
The Strategy
Reframe Marc Jacobs’ storytelling to be more inclusive and product-forward, while building a more disciplined, insight-led marketing engine designed to drive both brand perception and repeat purchase.
The Work
Rebuilding Product Storytelling Around the Real Customer
Built a storytelling-led launch framework for Dual and new handbag introductions — inspired by the film industry’s rollout model — while building an always-on engine for core bags designed to drive sustained relevance and repeat purchase.
This approach powered both the Dual Bag launch and the core bag business. Dual was positioned as a new icon — designed for everyday versatility, moving seamlessly from day to night — while core styles were brought to life through an evergreen campaign world that elevated quality, functionality, and lifestyle relevance across generations.
Rather than one-off drops, each bag became part of a broader storytelling ecosystem — spanning influencers, runway moments, retail, ecommerce, and social — designed to make product feel covetable, accessible, and culturally current.
This launch framework ultimately drove a 259% lift in daily sales, with Dual accounting for 28% of total 2024 handbag sales within two weeks.
Building a Smarter Performance Engine
With clearer insight into who the customer was, paid media, CRM, and ecommerce were redesigned to work together as a system — not silos.
Creative shifted from abstract brand expression to clear product storytelling — helping customers understand not just what the bag was, but why it mattered. Targeting was rebuilt around real customer behavior — reaching people based on how they actually discovered and bought product.
Campaigns were sequenced to support both acquisition and repeat purchase, influencer content was integrated directly into ecommerce, and CRM was used to build loyalty through exclusive access.
This shift drove a 50%+ lift in ROAS, alongside double-digit gains in CTR, intent to purchase, and brand favorability.
Turning Earned Media into a Commercial Growth Channel
Expanded earned media beyond couture into the mainline business for the first time — transforming PR from a brand-support function into a meaningful commercial growth lever.
Built campaigns around major cultural moments (NYFW, Oscars, fashion editor seeding) and developed product stories designed to travel organically across fashion and lifestyle press. The result was over 1B organic impressions per campaign, outperforming prior paid partnerships by 500–1,000x at approximately 95% lower cost.
