In the past 7 years or so, I’ve worked both solo and on teams creating everything from highly specific, laser-focused single serve Facebook posts to scheduled monthly content calendars containing dozens of Facebook and Twitter posts simultaaneously for a half-dozen brands. What you see here is a small sampling of a few successful forays into branded social media posts, specifically because these are the ones I had the most fun creating. While the majority of work for these Smucker’s brands would be shot in our in-house content studio, or re-imagined from brand assets or stock photography, every so often there would be a chance to leap outside of the box and do something truly custom.
The quarterly Pillsbury Baking “Trend Inspired” posts began with research into current baking trends, which would be narrowed down to three our four, and finally, remixed into something ownable via the Smucker’s test kitchen. Once recipes were locked, it was time for a quick early-morning flight to K&P Photo in Cleveland to capture the gorgeous shots seen here. Because myself, our account lead, and clients were able to attend, the art direction, iteration, and approval all happened seamlessly in real time—incredibly productive and cost-efficient but most of all, fun for all involved.
I’m not saying that just because a ton of people got together and there was cake that it was a party… but it wasn’t not a party.
So what do pancakes, the history of Nascar, and professional illustration have in common? Well, it used to be absolutely nothing, but now, it’s the Hungry Jack Racing Facebook posts you see here. When I found out there was a Nascar partnership that hadn’t been fully promoted, my first thought was "how cool would these be if done up like vintage posters!?" Because I may or may not personally know an artist who specializes in race illustrations(wink), it was easy to envision a series of custom posts—fifteen total—that would combine racing history and a passion for pancakes. After seeding the first few posts, fans were asked to come up with their own “racing pancakeism” sayings, one of which would then be chosen for the next custom post. It's not often that the initial vision for a project matches up with the end result, but for me, this was one of the very few. Working closely with Ethan of 8380 Laboratories was an absolute blast, and it was a privilege to be able to reformat and lay type over his beautiful illustrations.
