Fashion
Giving a lifestyle brand its voice and helping it scale to new heights
A minimalist watch and jewellery brand based in Amsterdam.
The brand
I joined CLUSE in 2015 at its very early stages. At that specific point in time the brand existed only as a few product pictures and a 5-people team. The need for branding the product and marketing it effectively was present.
The challenge
Fashion
Branding
Isabella Thordsen for CLUSE
Deliverables
Conceptualised an initial persona for the brand and expanded on several lifestyle elements, consumer types, and brand positioning to create an appealing brand identity.
Defined the tone of voice, keywords, and brand narrative.
Carved out the brand values, and the ‘why’ behind the product.
Wrote brand statement.
The new essential:
Redefining fashion watches for the millennial career girl
Brand unique selling point
The market had been dominated mainly by either luxury- or lower-quality/non-fashion-oriented watches.
The status quo
Young, fashion-conscious millennial women that are at the beginning of their career might not want to splurge on a luxury item but still need a fashionable accessory that completes their outfit and showcases their taste.
The problem
A minimalistic, elegant, and versatile watch that compliments different outfits, and can be worn on multiple occasions -that is also affordable.
A brand that is feminine and fashionable yet doesn’t place to much importance on possessions or expensive items, but on ‘the little things’ that make life beautiful. In a way, it creates the perfect balance between the fast-paced and often materialistic world of fashion and the invaluable beauty of focusing on what truly matters: the present moment.
The solution
Beyond Minimalism:
One watch, endless possibilities
Key brand identity points
Unique materials
The CLUSE La Roche collection featuring a dial made out of real marble. Each piece is different from the other one.
An Instagram #daretobeunique campaign was launched encouraging each person who bought the watch to share a picture of it with a caption narrating what makes them unique.
Beautiful details
A feminine, minimal design is creating the perfect canvas for each ‘CLUSE girl’ to match the watch and jewellery to her style, targeting a variety of consumers.
A delicate geometric shape (hexagon) makes the brand stand out and be recognisable amongst the rest of minimal jewellery brands.
Playful style
Interchangeable straps make the product incredibly versatile, as it can be dressed up or down and combined with different clothing styles.
The straps are easy to ‘mix and match’ and are available in different materials, with the main ones being leather and stainless steel.
Brand personas examples
Finding meaning in the simple moments of joy
Brand statement
Our story is about people who find beauty in simplicity.
Simple is not about being plain. It is about being grounded, sophisticated and true to oneself. Away from distractions and focused on the things that are truly important in life. With this mindset, we are committed to creating timepieces that represent elegance and minimalism.
Timepieces that aspire to be part of people who are conscious about their style. A CLUSE watch brings the best out of your look and completes your outfit. CLUSE is there not only to indicate time but to define your best moments and captivate attention in all simplicity.
Influencer marketing strategy
Fashion
Negin Mirsalehi for CLUSE
Deliverables
In charge of identifying influencers/online content creators to collaborate with.
Leading the influencer marketing strategy. Creator reach and engagement were always set as the most important metrics, along with an authentic, brand-compatible identity.
Developing key messages for social media campaigns and user-generated content inspiration. Example hashtags: #daretobeunique #MySpringMoments #TimeIsToBeShared #FeelVelvet #beLaVedette
Drafting and negotiating up to six-figure contracts for influencer collaborations.
Mapping out the influencer marketing landscape to achieve optimum targeting through social network analysis (SNA).
Leading the influencer marketing team consisting of 5 interns.
Creating measurable
impact through strategic collaborations
Influencer marketing campaigns
Understanding the content creator landscape as well as the nuances of what makes a product placement successful was crucial in the process of defining the influencer marketing strategy. Influencers from major market countries within Europe and the US were selected.
On the one hand, reach and engagement or each creator’s Instagram profile were always important factors in choosing key collaborations. On the other hand, it was equally important to identify those creators who genuinely love the product and would be willing to incorporate it into their lifestyle in the most organic way possible.
Each collaboration was closely monitored and directly correlated with the following metrics: creator’s sponsored post’s engagement rate, CLUSE Instagram account follower growth, website traffic, and weekly sales/revenue.
Key benefits:
Increase brand awareness and reach new consumer niches/markets
Ensure that the CLUSE brand identity is preserved and strengthened
Foster a trustworthy, long-term, loyal collaboration
Resonate with each creator’s audience in the best way possible in order to maximise leads.
#LaRoche
Influencer campaign introducing product model featuring real marble.
#MySpringMoments
Influencer campaign introducing SS 2017 product models.
#FeelVelvet
Influencer campaign introducing product model featuring velvet.
#TimeIsToBeShared
Influencer campaign around the concept of sharing time with loved ones.
#CLUSExNegin
Product design co-creation with influencer and brand ambassador Negin Mirsalehi.
#FallForCLUSE
Influencer campaign introducing fall 2017 product models.
A 21x growth: From 32k to 690k in 2 years
Results
CLUSE Instagram Follower Growth 2015-2017
May 2015: 32k followers, May 2016: 239k followers, May 2017: 690k followers
It is a pleasure to recommend Maria-Eirini. She was employed as Social Media Specialist at CLUSE from 14-10-2015 until 13-09-2017. Maria-Eirini successfully managed the CLUSE Instagram platform to ensure the growth of this channel. Due to her hard work our Instagram followers increased.
- Rudyard Bekker, CLUSE Co-CEO
Website content
Creating a personal connection
A page dedicated to the best-performing influencers. One influencer per key country was selected and a short interview with them was featured. Each of these influencers was identified based on the reach and engagement of their Instagram posts featuring CLUSE and was offered a longer-term (exclusive) partnership contract.
Key benefits: strengthening the personal element of the brand, strengthening the trustworthiness of the influencers as they were exclusively featuring CLUSE on their Instagram (and not any other competitor watch brands).
Example interview:
Product packaging
Strengthening the brand voice
Three hand-written quotes highlighting key brand messages printed on strap canvas pouches.
Key benefits: consolidating the brand’s key messages and aesthetic, encouraging user-generated content that showcases product feature (interchangeable straps) on social media
“cherish the simple things”
“honour your style, make it personal”
“feel the moment, focus on what matters”
Head of all social media content creation and planning with a focus on Instagram as the main revenue-generating platform for the brand. The brand's tone of voice was kept playful, fresh, feminine, and positive, in alignment with the brand personas and the target group. Influencer-, in-house-, and ‘lifestyle inspiration’ content were combined to create a seamless, on-brand, aesthetically pleasing Instagram feed.
Key benefits: Increased engagement (likes, comments, shares, saves) as the copy most of the time included a call to action (“double-tap the picture”, “what is your favourite…”, “share with us”). User is always actively invited to be part of the story the picture tells and connect with the brand and product even more.
Engaging posts, elevated results
Social media
Delicious content, delivered in the mailbox
Newsletters
A newsletter with a clear call to action announcing new product launches, campaigns, and updates.
Key benefits: enhanced brand recognition and awareness, increased website visits and conversions
Social Media Management
Fashion
Deliverables
Responsible for all social media management of the brand: overseeing the content strategy for Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, and Snapchat and contribute to community management.
Carefully curating the Instagram feed of the brand in order to reflect current campaigns, newly launched products, active influencer collaborations, brand cross promotions, giveaways and contests.
Developing key messages for social media campaigns and user-generated content inspiration. Example hashtags: #daretobeunique #MySpringMoments #TimeIsToBeShared #FeelVelvet #beLaVedette
Arranging and executing Instagram cross-promotions with other lifestyle brands.
Copywriting of all Instagram captions.
Creating and excecuting a content calendar.
Monitoring Instagram follower growth and engagement and weekly reporting to CEO’s and team.
Ahead of the competition
Instagram engagement
The engagement rate of the CLUSE Instagram account was consistently kept above 3% and always above the engagement rate of the competitive brand accounts.
Key benefits:
A consistent increase in the following key metrics was achieved:
reach of posts (as rewarded by the algorithm)
brand awareness
traffic on the website
revenue
Average Instagram Engagement Rate Comparison 2016-2017
Data: Socialbakers (now Emplifi) Customer Engagement & Social Media Marketing Platform
