TOMMY BAHAMA
THE SUMMER CATALOG
After only a couple of months spent reworking the brand voice for Tommy Bahama, I was tasked with writing the entirety of their biggest annual catalog. The company’s goals were unique (engage our female guests, elevate our messaging, and create an aspirational, refined tone) and so an exceptionally unique book was in order.
My intent was to leave behind older formats of clinical product descriptions and instead create an aspirational lifestyle book (that just so happened to feature products for sale).
MEN’S SHIRT MAILER
Tommy Bahama designed a versatile men’s dress shirt collection intended to perfectly pair with their most popular chino. I was tasked with developing the messaging for the launch of their new best product, which was first introduced with this six-panel mailer. The emphasis was to be on comfort and versatility and to incorporate the sense that this was your new every-day, go-to shirt to be dressed up or down.
FRAGRANCE
In the continued effort to elevate the brand’s voice, I aimed to eliminate the stigma surrounding their ill-performing fragrance line. Facing but overcoming a bit of internal resistance, I was able to refine the messaging from casual to elegant, without being too ethereal, over-the-top, or alienating to the fun-loving Tommy guest. The creative lived in mailers, magazine ad placements, and in-store signage, and the brand observed an immediate increase in their fragrance sales performance.
MEN’S DENIM
Following the success of the fragrance relaunch, I was selected to design a streamlined way to discuss the various fits and styles of the TB men’s denim line. I snuck up to the designers’ floor, snagged a few pair for myself, and spent the day wearing them. I decided to de-emphasize the elaborate details and specs of the previous copy and instead focus on the feel and concept of these unique and extremely comfortable jeans.
As I explained to the C-suite, “If you sell these jeans by silhouette and fit alone, people are going to wonder why the hell you didn’t say anything about how soft and luxurious the jeans are, once they try them on.”
This is one of many projects where I reshaped messaging to speak to the experience of the product by the guest, rather than the coupon-speak of former creative.
EMAIL MARKETING
Direct email traffic was a huge source of revenue for Tommy Bahama. The messaging for their marketing emails was fun, playful, and even featured a little on-brand irreverence at times. These were extremely collaborative and considerate projects as copy worked closely with the design and marketing teams to perfect the creative and optimize subscriber engagement.
