MY ROLE


Group Creative Director

RESULTS


+56.1%

social engagement YoY

+74.3%

avg time on site YoY

+84%

Google search ads YoY

Leading a Leader to Leadership

Despite 120 years of brand recognition, Hammermill needed to earn more aisle at the trade level and increase familiarity among millennial business end-users to secure their business long-term. I worked closely with the strategy team who flipped quant and qual research into insights that we used to refresh the brand’s positioning and digital content strategy. I lead the creation of a new design system, photo library, packaging, and more. Finally, we launched the rebrand with a feel-good campaign for trade customers and end-users alike.

Going Viral on TikTok (without TikTok)

Months into our brand work, we spotted user @beard-al posting about Hammermill’s 99.9% JAM-FREE® Guarantee in a viral TikTok that quickly found itself on subreddit front pages. Hammermill didn’t have a TikTok profile. Rather than scrambling into a new platform without a strategy, I lead creative strategy across design and copy to amplify Al on Instagram and Twitter. This unlocked new fans, converting thousands of them to owned channels. Hammermill TikToks received more than 4 million views, 1.5 million likes and 4,700 comments.

TikTok Part 1

TikTok Part 2

TikTok Part 3

TikTok Part 4

Better, Brighter, Bolder

With a refreshed brand now in market, we eyed their profit leader: premium-grade paper. I drove the creative team to produce an understated, confident campaign that challenged what the industry believed paper marketing could be, art directing photography and producing video myself. I also oversaw the design of the landing page. The campaign exceeded Meta benchmark CPM by 37%, LinkedIn CTR benchmark by 48%, and visitors stayed on landing page almost 2 minutes, also far exceeding industry benchmarks. We gained industry attention, gave existing trade customers a renewed sense of value in their purchases, and - better yet - had customers of lower grades turning their heads.



Brand Success(ion)

What says "millennial business end-user" more than the audience of HBO's Succession? Our refreshed Hammermill products were featured in the Emmy-winning final season, watched live by more than 2 million viewers. Don’t worry, these 90 seconds of audio (and these 90 seconds only) are SFW.

Courtesy of HBO

Project Information

  • Creative Direction
    Lawson Soward

    Art Direction
    Kaity Burns
    Joel Bentley

    Design
    Cymone Wilder
    Tia Smith
    Kaity Burns

    Tone of Voice & Copy
    Bob Raczka

  • Creative Direction
    Lawson Soward

    Director of Digital Marketing
    Lizzy Kuzmic

    Social Media Manager
    Airin Virgilio

    Copywriter, Social
    David Hood

    Jam Label Designer 😋
    Lawson Soward

  • Creative Direction
    Lawson Soward

    Design
    Cymone Wilder
    Joel Bentley

    Copy
    Bob Raczka

    Video
    Lawson Soward

  • Creative Direction
    Lawson Soward

    Director of Digital Marketing
    Lizzy Kuzmic

    Copywriter, Social
    David Hood

    Video
    Courtesy of HBO

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