A wink towards effectiveness

Right. I'm going to keep this short and have a quick chat with you about effectiveness. If I myself were a brand (which I kind of am) my tagline would be something along the lines of 

DMH - won’t shut up about things being effective.

To keep my work fresh, I try to push the boundaries with both my production approach, equipment and use of the platforms. I recently built my own 3D photography rig to take on the road with me because I thought normal street style just wasn't engaging enough. I find the prospect of brands 'going live' really exciting and I think we have only scratched the creative surface of what is one of the most interesting and effective ways to communicate with your audience. You can be as creative with production as with the content itself. This means making your time, budget and capabilities work together in new ways, so you get a broad spectrum of amazing work every time.

I like things that can stop a scrolling thumb in its tracks, things that visually astound me, disruptive content that drives talkability and keeps you wanting more. I cut my teeth working in the fashion industry, making online content before online content was really a thing (incredibly hipster, I know). I did well schmoozing PR people, hosting nights at fancy clubs and talking brands such as Vivienne Westwood, Paul Smith and Sweaty Betty into letting me make some content for them. My work for the London College of Fashion even won an award from the British Fashion Council. 

While it was all well and good making content for these top fashion brands, I wanted to apply the things I had previously learned to advertising and explore social media as its own advertising platform. Using cues from the fashion world allows me to create really interesting, yet premium looking work that will be stylistically miles ahead.

The 9th of March 2012. That was the day I downloaded Instagram. I had already been having the most fun posting my adventures to Facebook, but now I had a new platform to play with. One that really concentrated on the visual. Ever since then I have closely followed the development of both Facebook and Instagram, looking for creative opportunities and seeing where there is more fun to be had. 

I relish the creative challenge of using the 5.5 inch vertical screen to tell a story, why do you think I have asked you to view this presentation on your mobile phone? On my travels through the social media landscape I have found that premiumness is made up from being really interesting, having great style and being consistent with the quality of your posts. You never see Gigi Hadid out there wearing a diamante shell suit, her brand is on point. 

I find the prospect of working on CÎROC very exciting. Not only was it my vodka of choice when I was hosting my club nights (for reals), it sits in that incredibly exciting world where fashion meets luxury meets advertising. We have the opportunity to behave like a fashion brand by becoming a trend setter that other influential people and brands follow and copy. We can pack our content with personality, we can wink at our competitors and show them what great content really looks like.

While I have only really touched upon what makes work effective (84 page document on effectiveness to follow), I think the brand is onto something great.

We have to be interesting, we have to be different, we have to lead. This is a perfect brand to redefine what luxury advertising looks like on social media.