Index

• PROJECT

• BRAND/PRODUCT

• CREATIVE PROCESS

• CONCLUSION

Brand

theCHIVE, The Chivery, and Bill Murray

eCommerce Marketing Team

• David Resto - Art Director
• Joe Nullet - Director of Marketing
• Andrett Urias - Marketing Specialist
• Kevin Choy - Merchandiser

Timeline

2-Week Design & Marketing Sprint, March 2020

Roles

• Art Direction
• Lead Design
• Photo Editing

Tools

Adobe Creative Cloud

The Problem

Surrounding the announcements of presidential nominees early into 2020, there was an over-saturation of politics on every stream of information.

The Solution

Using Bill Murray at the forefront of theCHIVE’s reiteration of its ‘no politics’ rule for onsite content, it was decided that the next products launch will be themed around escapism with a tongue-in-cheek voiceover, dubbed, Laugh 2020.

The Company

theCHIVE is a multifaceted digital entertainment brand built on three pillars: Humor, Hotness, and Humanity. There’s also a full-service production studio to create original content, manage photoshoots, event activations, and a community that meets offline to “party with a purpose,” which has raised over six million dollars for charity.

theCHIVE’s eCommerce shop, The Chivery, has almost two million customers and upwards of one thousand products, which is now tapping into minting collectible coins.

Visit theCHIVE and The Chivery.

Who is Bill F*cking Murray?

For the off-chance that you don’t know who Bill Murray is… here’s a quick summary of the man, the myth, and the true-to-life, legend!

William James Murray is an American actor, comedian, and writer. Known for his deadpan delivery, he first rose to fame on Saturday Night Live. Thus, leading him on a path to cinematic stardom, starring in such classics as: Caddyshack, Stripes, Ghostbusters, and Groundhog Day. Bill has also kept it relevant in the modern independent film genre, starring in Wes Anderson’s ‘literary geek chic’ films, as well as being casted opposite Scarlett Scarlett Johansson in Sofia Coppola’s, Lost in Translation. Along with a hilarious role, playing himself, in the movie Zombieland, Bill has a way of stealing the show and keeping everyone smiling.

Despite all of this, Bill is infamously unavailable and impossible to get ahold of. No agent and only an 800-number to leave a voicemail on. theCHIVE’s co-founders were adamant on reaching the man because, as John Resig puts it, “We owed Bill a lot of money!” From the beginning and without copyright, Leo designed the first 'Bill F*cking Murray’ tee and set aside a sizable sum for the man. When the time was right, the check was presented, and rather than pocketing the cash, Bill told the brothers to donate it to charity before looking at the amount. At that moment, Bill knew these guys were onto something and became a partner to the BFM brand exclusively produced through The Chivery… and the rest is history.

The Products

A simple design spread across a collection of presidential-like merchandise.

theCHIVE’s audience had the unique opportunity to cast their ballot and show support for the man that makes America laugh.

Although political cycles and pandemics come and go, Bill remains unaffected with his mantra, “You have to maintain a level of laughter fitness through the hard times, so in the good times you’re even funnier.”

Research

• Instances of Bill Murray visiting the White House

• Bill Murray in any presidential roles

• Imagery of Bill laughing and having fun

References

• Vintage Presidential Campaign Designs

• Political Memorabilia

Inspiration

• Read up on some of Bill Murray’s hilarious antics.

• Watch my favorite Bill Murray movies

Sketches

• Introductory Presidential Email

• Presidential Pin Mockup

• General Launch Editorial & Ads

• General Web Banner with CTA for Shop

Create

• The team organized a visit to The Chivery’s warehouse and was accompanied by Bill and his brother Joel Murray. A shot-list was provided to the photographer, which was curated by myself and the marketing team.

• A lot of research went into retro political campaigns and lifestyle imagery. The initial mockups would show off the branded products in retro settings and scenes relevant to theCHIVE and Bill’s interests.

• Build out an initial email and editorial concepts for review.

Lifestyle Mockups

The products were still in production as the campaign drew near I took it upon myself to use the vendor renders to build-out the approved lifestyle mockups in retro settings. Along with the additional assets for the product page galleries.

Design & Production

• Emails: Launch, Sold-Out, Back-In-Stock, and Recap

• Social & Editorial: Launch, Sold-Out, Back-In-Stock, Social Grid Triptych, and Additional Story Assets

• Shop & Landing Page: Marquees, Banners, Touts, Product Gallery Images

• General Launch (House Ads)

Packaging

• Organize finalized assets and share amongst teams and stakeholders internally.

• Package finalized assets for theCHIVE and Chivery social teams.

Tracking

Work with Marketing Specialist to update visuals for internal assets deck and include tracking links for retrospective metrics and launch template fine-tuning.

Laugh 2020 was a successfully branded campaign and brought theCHIVE and Bill Murray fans a bit of humor amidst years worth of political burn-out.

The products embraced a true American icon and allowed for two rounds of back-in-stock notifications until inevitably selling out of the traditional political swag items: stickers, pins, and magnets, while print-on-demand apparel still holds true to this day.

Consistent branding across the board, coupled with a humorous and heartfelt editorial write up by John Resig, has laid the foundation for a parody political campaign that will stand the test of time. Would you vote for Murray? I know I would.

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