SARAH VINING BRAND STRATEGIST PORTFOLIO

more work. less waste.

Solving a real-world problem. A personal side-project.

more work. less waste.

PROBLEM: Everyday, agency creatives are bombarded with paper promos from photographers and illustrators and far more often than not, these promos are thrown out. Multiply all those lled wastebaskets by all the creatives in all the agencies around the world and you get a huge landll piled high with photographers and illustrators collective talent and genius. What a waste. SOLUTION: Because creatives dont have enough space to le all the work received, physically or mentally, and artists dont have a central place to showcase their work, a group of us created and launched First-Stop.org. First-Stop is a free and easy to use online showcase for photographers and illustrators, where creatives can nd the artists they would like to work with, while also being provided with a paperless alternative to the barrage of promos. As a condition of being featured on the site, artists pledge to signicantly reduce the amount of paper promos they send out or better yet, pledge to stop sending out promos altogether.

STRATEGY
Join the cause to stop the waste. Why? Because no one benets from talent that lands up in the trash.
RESULTS: Since the site launched in early 2011, thousands of artists from around the world have joined the cause, and with an advertising budget of less than $2,000, the site has attracted over 60,000 unique visitors and over 460,000 page views. We also guesstimate that the site has saved about 2,500kg of paper from overowing wastebaskets worldwide.

ONLINE

PROMOTION

Apart from creating a video (above; vimeo.com/21623556), we provided agency creatives all around the world with sheets of First-Stop return to sender stickers (left). Using these stickers, creatives could send the paper promos back to the artists encouraging them to promote their work through First-Stop instead.

PRESS

THE CHEESECAKE FACTORY A brand simplied.

THE CHEESECAKE FACTORY

TASK: Increase foot trafc into The Cheesecake Factory stores. BUSINESS SNAPSHOT: Casual dining is traditionally dominated by shouty (Buy! Buy! Buy!) advertising that showcases faux food and inauthentic happy situations in unimaginative media placements. OPPORTUNITY: The Cheesecake Factory restaurants are generally successful, but their menu is overwhelming with over 200 choices. The restaurant is also known for meals and special occasions, however what truly differentiates this brand is that the restaurants do not close between lunch and dinner, not to mention their legendary cheesecake selection. We identied the opportunity to talk to women about cheesecake as the signature offering at a time when the brand is not top of mind - mid-afternoon. WHO ARE WE TALKING TO? WOMEN (25 - 54) WHO ARE SQUEEZED FOR TIME The world that women live in is vastly different from the one their counterparts experienced 20 or 30 years ago. Women today hold $7 trillion in purchasing power and more and more are trying to have their cake and eat it by managing households, raising children and working full-time (whether thats following their ambitions career-wise or picking up the slack as a result of more men losing jobs during the recession). And why not? But if one thing is clear, women, as conrmed by an American Working Women survey, are badly in need of a break. CAMPAIGN OBJECTIVE: Convince women to choose a slice of The Cheesecake Factory cheesecake over their usual 3pm pick-me-up. INSIGHT: Women are so busy achieving everything that they need to in a day that they barely have any time for themselves and as a result are practically running on empty.

STRATEGY
3pm is cheesecake time. Why? Because when women take a break, they deserve to indulge in an out-of-theordinary 3pm treat.

EXECUTIONS

MEDIA

In focusing on mediums outside of traditional TV and print advertising and to rise above the price-pushing that is generally the norm in this category, we wanted to entertain rather than provide entertainment. The Cheesecake Factory resturants are located in highentertainment areas (like malls) and 55% of social gamers are women, so a social online game that women could play with their friends and geo-targeted media (e.g. bus shelters) made sense. In addition, we suggested promoting coffee and cheesecake as the ideal 3pm pick-me-up in order to tie-in with our audiences natural behavior of seeking out coffee when their afternoons start to drag around 3pm.

OUTDOOR

Creative: Diana Castillo (CW), Lia Khayami (AD), Lance Vining (AD)

EXECUTIONS

APP GAME

APP

APP
The app will be advertised on the brands Facebook and Twitter pages. Once users download and open the app, a cheesecake Bingo game opens up. Users get one free piece of cheesecake (center) but then need to scan the barcode from their purchase of a slice of cheesecake between 3 - 5pm to earn another playing piece. Once users earn a Bingo, they will receive a gift certicate for a random amount at The Cheesecake Factory.

INCOMMON.COM
Better connecting the online dating world with how young singles click ofine.

INCOMMON.COM
TASK: Create and launch a new online dating website. HOW SINGLES FIND DATES IS NOT CHANGING, IT HAS ALREADY CHANGED: Online daters are no longer part of a desperate minority. 40 million people in the U.S. are outsourcing their love lives to online dating sites. Its big business. How big exactly? Well, bigger than the porn industry and worth over $1 billion a year. The industry is dominated by a handful of major players: Match, Eharmony, Plentyofsh and Okcupid, however these sites are not serving the needs of young singles today given their new (compared to their parents) outlook on life. CALLING ALL SINGLE MEN & WOMEN (22 - 31): Our audience is tech savvy, adventurous, active and open to new experiences (including nding a date online). The milestones for adulthood have been delayed; 30 is the new 25 so theyre not in a hurry to get married, have kids or buy a house. Theyre creating a new path for themselves and are not looking for relationships that will hold them back from everything that theyd still like to achieve. SO, WHATS THE PROBLEM: While dating and online dating can feel fun and exciting, albeit really awkward at times, the competition doesnt acknowledge that even the best personality prole cannot predict with complete accuracy whether two people are going to click when they meet in person.

Its impossible to get a vibe about someone from behind a screen.

Jessica M, 26

But when we meet, I can tell in the rst 5 minutes whether were going to click or not.

INCOMMON.COM
IDEA FOR THE NEW SITE: In order for singles to discover their compatibility by meeting in person (rather than through an online personality prole), we suggested creating a group dating site named incommon.com. Members are able to choose the activities they would like to experience in a group, whether thats white river rafting or learning how to create a tasty Boeuf a la Bourguignonne. Each activity is organized with an equal number of men and women and once members have chosen and paid for the experience, all they need to do is show up! The appeal in this concept lies in creating a fun environment for singles to connect naturally (minus some of the awkwardness that is so characteristic of meeting someone new for the rst time) as well as in the fact that even if members dont nd their special someone, they can still enjoy the activity they chose through the site. CAMPAIGN OBJECTIVES: GET: Singles who believe that online dating feels disconnected with how dating works in real life TO: Sign-up for fun group experiences on incommon.com BY: Showing them that group experiences can take the awkward out of dating and enable relationships to develop organically INSIGHTS: People are at their best when theyre doing what they want to do. People experience a heightened level of attraction under stimulating conditions i.e. experiencing something for the rst time or having an adventure they nd exciting.

STRATEGY: Shared experiences inspire new relationships.

Why? Because two people who experience something together (in person) are more likely to bond which, in turn, enables a relationship to develop organically. TONE & LANGUAGE: authentic and realistic, no over-promises or fairy tale endings avoid use of the words love, marriage or soul mates

SITE

SITE

APP

FACEBOOK

PRINT

PRINT/AMBIENT

Creative: Helena Delgado (CW), Maria Molina (AD)