Although I haven't been specifically in marketing since I graduated from college, I have taken on roles that required marketing responsibilities, which have lead me to this path. One such role was being the Store Manager at Anna Maria's Boutique, a local, high-end, women's fashion retail store.
One of my main duties was to create and coordinate the local print campaigns each month, which ran in
Austin Monthly,
Tribeza,
Rare,
Jewell,
Austin Woman Magazine and Austin Magazine (no longer available).
With the help of my assistant manager, we:
- strategized the ad campaign
- negotiated & purchased ad space
- found the appropriate photographers
- negotiated photographer rates
- found & coordinated the photo shoot locations
- coordinated & styled the models for the shoot
- coordinated hair & makeup
- worked with the art director of each magazine to create the ad layout
- approved the artwork
- sent the final artwork to print
We were very proud of our ad campaigns, as they became our creative outlet every month. We wanted to create a fantasy fashion world that was beautiful, luxurious and adventurous. We saw the ads as an extension of ourselves and our store.
Our tagline was "You never know where fashion will take you...". The concept was to have a beautiful model wearing some of our best pieces in a place that was completely unexpected.
We hired a
fantastic photographer and I believe we captured the essence of our store exactly as we saw it. Unfortunately, Anna Maria's had to close its doors in 2007. We had worked on the campaign for 5 months prior to its closing and it had just started gaining traction and brand identity in the local fashion scene.
Although the store did not survive our campaign, we developed a relationship with most of the local media and we gained irreplaceable experience in the creative ad process, both of which have helped me in my current endeavors.
