Votre Vu targets the ever-aging baby boomer market with its luxury products at less-than-luxury prices. January 2009 they debuted in the DS (Direct Sales) market with custom-blended European skin care and beverage products, garnering nearly one million dollars in sales in the first two months. BAs (Brand Ambassadors) act as independent consultants hosting soirées to sell product at a discount price while the public-facing online boutique offers product at full price.
In 2010 Votre Vu was feeling a disconnect with its market — the house wife looking for supplemental income. We focused on two initiatives that year: how-to videos showing just how easy it is for ‘them’ to get free product by hosting their own soirée; and performing all photoshoots in-house, saving thousands of dollars. By 2014 the product line had doubled in size, new product lines were developed, and business kept growing.
Next Wave Logistics, the technology company for which I worked, focused on managing all Votre Vu DS websites, sales force productivity tools, limitless commerce, genealogy, incentives, SAS model hosting, and creative needs. Click here to read about DS (PWS, BAS, HC, and AC) sites and the redesign project — look below for examples of other creative services.
The creative services we provided worked much like an advertising agencies. Their DS sites required regular graphic updates, maintenance, and changes to reflect the physical product and campaigns. We developed packaging, mobile app, marketing, social media, photography, video, logo/branding, and coordination with vendors. Votre Vu had on-location events across America in the VuBar, a silver Streamline (mobile pop-up-shop) trailer. We branded the in/outside to feel luxurious and be an inviting space for trying product… including the occasional ice luge and burlesque show. Goal: Creative Services
I received and performed the majority of projects directly with the client via daily communication. I oversaw small project requests, mediated for my team, and provided creative. Larger projects came from my director in the form of a spec doc requesting user flow, interactive prototype, visual design, and/or prototype testing. Other clients for whom I worked: PartyLite, Dove, Lia Sophia, Gold Canyon, and JAFRA. Role: Senior Web Designer
The goal was to allow sites to be more personal shopper friendly. Personal shoppers were considered BAs (received product discounts), but many did not retain BA ID# and were signing in under their sponsor to place orders. At the time, personal shoppers could only sign-in from their sponsor’s BAS and not from PWS. We expanded the parameters to allow either type of customer to sign-in from either the PWS or BAS. I was brought in to create comps, and in the process discovered corner cases not previously considered.
The goal was to boost social media activity. We invited users to answer a few fun beauty questions and upload a personal photo in exchange for a short ‘minisode’ video. Processing the video took just moments. We had a pre-recorded set of shorts with celebrity makeup artists hosting a talk-show, with the personal photo the user submitted as the celebrated guest. The guest was compared to famous actors and public figures. I worked with architects and the client to layout the user flow, created comps, worked with my team to acquire celebrity assets, prototype, and test.
In the effort to better my client’s position, I did a competitive analysis of the key touch points our competitors targeted to market short-run sales that included comments made by customers on social media. The marketing campaign’s goal was to introduce short-run Flash Sales to move product. Until then we had not offered a single campaign across so many channels — home page, social media, news letter, video, digital/print flyers, shipping inserts.
Les Naturelles Collection was a perfume line launched August 2013. I researched how best to market an aroma without promoting a specific ingredient. We played off the ‘mood’ and the name Sacré Coeur. It took on an old-world painterly architectural feel. I developed mood boards, played with label prototypes, and received approval for double sided labels. Inside: artistic blue painting seen through the glass bottle. Outside: traditional copy and logo with a color-matching blue border. To pull it all together, I sketched part of the Sacré Coeur Basilica and placed it behind the finished product for photos we used to market the collection.
Every June Votre Vu hosted La Fêté, a conference in downtown Chicago, Illinois. In 2014 we announced a new website, new product, new branding with an artisanal feel, and a beautiful catalog. Click Here for the final catalog PDF. I created the layout/design, constructed prototypes, hand drew the illustrations, managed in-house photo shoots, and oversaw quality control during the printing process.
