Q1. Please share an example of a major brand launch or integrated marketing campaign that you led. What were your key strategies, challenges, and measurable outcomes?
In Spring 2024, I led the marketing campaign for the book launch tour of Power Moves by Sarah Jakes Roberts. The campaign was centered on a seven-city book tour with a virtual replay marketed nationally. Due to the timing of my joining the agency, I inherited the campaign 3 weeks after launch, and 4 weeks before the first event.
Challenges:
- Half of the $150K ad budget had already been spent, with mixed results.
- Two cities (Dallas, TX, and Chicago, IL) showed sluggish ticket sales. I discovered Sarah Jakes Roberts had hosted events in these markets the previous fall, likely contributing to audience fatigue. Although it was too late to cancel venue contracts, we needed to maximize attendance.
- Three venues used ticketing platforms that didn’t allow tracking pixels, which limited our ability to measure and optimize PPC campaigns.
Strategies & Solutions:
- Leveraged Sarah Jakes Roberts' 3.5M social media followers and 200K-strong email database to maximize the remaining ad budget.
- Activated Meta partnership ads featuring the tour’s special guests to increase reach.
- Deployed a targeted discount strategy and grassroots campaign to drive group registrations, focusing on underperforming cities.
- Shifted ad creative to prioritize SJR as the focal point, not the book itself. Drawing from her highest-performing social media content, I transformed viral videos from past speaking engagements into ads with subtle tour branding. I briefed the PPC team that the book wasn’t the sole draw—audiences were coming to be inspired by SJR, regardless of specific content.
Results:
- Sold out all but two events, selling over 20,000 tickets in total. Achieved acceptable capacity in the two lower-performing markets.
- Sold an additional 5,000 tickets for the virtual replay, generating $200K in revenue with minimal overhead.
- Improved ROAS by 3x.
- Power Moves made the NYT Best Seller list, due in large part to the tour’s reach and advertising.
- Generated 30M+ brand impressions and gained 45K new followers during the ad campaign.
Q2. Describe your experience with defining KPIs and using performance data to shape brand strategy. Which insights, metrics, and tools have you found most effective in measuring brand performance and success.
Measuring brand performance requires a combination of quantitative and qualitative insights. I organize my approach into these three dimensions:
1. BRAND AWARENESS
Tools like Google Trends, social listening platforms (Brandwatch, Sprinklr), and survey tools (Qualtrics) track how familiar customers are with the brand and how top of mind it is relative to competitors.
- Impressions
- (Quality) Earned Media Placements
- Brand Search Volume
- Traffic to Owned Digital Properties
I also use tools like SEMrush, Ahrefs, and SimilarWeb to understand how a brand is performing relative to competitors in search rankings, traffic and content performance.
Lived Experience
At DELK, I used Helium 10 to quantify the size of the market for winter windshield covers on Amazon.
I then used those insights to forecast what our sales growth could look like over 5 years if we grew brand awareness and converted buyers to our products/listings.
This created the dataset needed to inform our forecast, marketing spend, and cost per acquisition.
2. CONSUMER INSIGHTS & BEHAVIORAL METRICS
Customer Engagement metrics help track how customers interact with brand content and how successful our campaigns are in driving interest and conversion. Examples:
- Social Media Engagement (likes, shares, comments, saves)
- Click Through Rate (CTR)
- Website Traffic (time on site, repeat visitors)
Using tools like Google Analytics and eCommerce platforms (Shopify), I assess how well brand awareness translates into purchases, lead capture, and other desired outcomes.
- Conversion Rate
- Units Per Order
- Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)
- Repeat Customer Metrics
Lived Experience
At Thistle Farms, I tracked conversion rate by new and repeat customers:
3.8% overall conversion rate.
1.9% new customer conversion rate.
20% repeat customer conversion rate.
For years, the brand had grown through our Founder's speaking and PR activities. She needed to pull back from the rigorous travel schedule. In tandem, we increased our PPC activities. PPC will never convert with the same quality as an in person / high touch experience.
1. These insights held make the business case for establishing additional ambassadors and spokespeople to continue generating high-touch brand experiences.
2. The P&L for our live event team was previously only measured by onsite sales. I broadened the impact metrics by showing the uptick in site traffic, online sales, and new customer conversion rate that occurred as a halo effect of live events.
3. BRAND EQUITY & ADVOCACY
Gauging the strength of brand loyalty and connection is key to turning transactional customers into brand advocates. I monitor and measure this with metrics like:
- Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)
- Repeat Customer Metrics
- Units Per Order
- Loyalty and Referral Program Participation
- Social Comments and Shares
Customer Feedback and Sentiment
Collecting direct feedback from customers via surveys, reviews, focus groups, and customer support data offers valuable qualitative insights.
- Product Reviews, Overall Rating, Order to Review Ratio
- Customer Service metrics - ticket volume relative to sales, ticket category, and ticket resolution satisfaction
- Net Promotor fits here, but it is not my favorite metric in this category
Lived Experience
At DELK, I oversaw customer service. The overwhelming majority of our tickets were for size recommendations.
I learned that a simple icon chart showing small, medium, and large vehicles did not create enough confidence for customers to know whether a Standard or XL was the right size for their vehicle.
We added an optional interactive form that provided specific recommendations for 300 vehicle makes and models.
43% conversion increase.
65% customer service ticket decrease.
25% exchanges decrease.
Q3. Identify a brand that you believe has executed a successful marketing strategy. What elements stand out to you, and how would you apply similar approaches to Caraway?
Away Luggage launched in 2015 and quickly disrupted the luggage market, a category that had long been stale and dominated by legacy brands by positioning itself as a travel and lifestyle brand. Away innovated the category by blending practicality, style, and an emotional connection to travel.
Key elements of Away’s brand marketing strategy:
- Storytelling and Emotional Connection
More than suitcases, Away sells the experience of travel, making its customers feel that luggage is part of a larger lifestyle. By focusing on the emotional side of travel—escape, adventure, and personal growth—Away taps into consumers' desires to break free from routine and explore the world. - Brand Identity: Chic, Modern, and Functional
The aesthetic appeal of Away aligns perfectly with the values of its target audience: practical, high-quality, and visually appealing. The brand’s identity is reinforced across all touchpoints—from its digital presence to its physical stores. Its brand language is aspirational but accessible. - Physical Experience: Pop-Up Stores and Community-Building
Away uses pop-up stores and retail locations to bring the brand to life. Away’s stores are designed to be hubs for travel enthusiasts, where customers can engage through travel-themed experiences. By offering opportunities to engage with like-minded individuals, Away turns shopping into an experience—one that taps into the broader cultural trends of community, travel, and shared experiences. - Content, Social Media, Brand Collaborations, and Influencer Partnerships
Away has produced a travel-focused magazine (heremagazine.com) and a podcast, positioning itself as travel expert. On social media, Away’s content isn’t just about the products —it’s about the lifestyle that comes with them. The brand’s highest-engaged content showcases travelers and their adventures, using a diverse group of influencers and brand advocates.
How Caraway Can Apply These Strategies to Drive Differentiation & Generate Loyalty:
Caraway has a significant opportunity to differentiate itself in the crowded cookware market by tapping into the emotional aspects of cooking, connecting with conscious consumers, and fostering a strong sense of community.
By positioning the brand as more than cookware, Caraway can become a part of the shared experiences and memories that happen around the kitchen and dining table.
Here's how I would approach this as Director of Brand Marketing:
1. Content & Community
The kitchen is the heart of the home. It’s where we make memories, and cooking is deeply connected to both emotion and memory. Smell is the strongest sense tied to memory, which is why the kitchen is not only where meals are prepared, but where memories are made.
Caraway can draw parallels to iconic brands like Pyrex, Tupperware, and KitchenAid, which are deeply embedded in the nostalgia of many Gen X and Millennials. Caraway has the opportunity to position itself as the brand that will be woven into memories —creating a new legacy of culinary experiences and shared moments.
As Director, Brand Marketing, I would shape the brand’s content and community strategy through strategic initiatives such as:
• Recipes & Cooking Tips: Develop a content hub featuring easy-to-discover recipes and cooking tips for home chefs. This could include user-generated content, enabling customers to share their own recipes and cooking experiences. Mobile-friendly features like search filters and shopping list generation would enhance convenience.
• Social Content & Contests: Encourage recipe sharing and create social content that resonates emotionally—using storytelling to highlight how cooking is part of family traditions, holiday meals, and everyday dinners. Contests, recipe challenges, and sharing tips would drive engagement and brand awareness.
• Brand Ambassadors & Partnerships: Caraway could collaborate with influential figures such as Jen Garner, whose cooking social content is entertaining and fun, or Maneet Chauhan from Food Network. These partnerships could drive visibility and bring Caraway into the lives of people who aspire to cook and entertain with style. Collaborating with a meal box service would create audience growth opportunities with affluent, convenience-oriented home foodies.
The key to all of this is storytelling. Positioning Caraway as an accessory to cherished moments, from family dinners to special celebrations. Caraway is an investment in memories and relationships.
2. Brand Identity: Aesthetic, Functional, and Conscious
The challenge for a premium brand like Caraway is that it often faces visual emulation from competitors like Carote, Our Place, and Nuwave.
Opportunities for differentiation might also include:
- Ethical & Intentional Manufacturing: To stand apart, Caraway could appeal to conscious consumers by deepening its messaging around responsible manufacturing and product safety.
- Convertible & Versatile Products: Could handles be removable, allowing the cookware to transition from stovetop to serving ware? This may increase the product’s versatility and appeal to consumers looking for multifunctional kitchen items.
- Personalization for Gifting: Caraway could introduce personalized options, particularly for storage containers (such as customizable lids), to make them special for gifts. This also has a practical component to help containers be returned after a potluck or family gathering.
By blending aesthetic appeal with functional innovation and positioning Caraway as a brand that aligns with conscious consumer values, we can create a distinctive market position that appeals to modern, discerning customers who care about both style and sustainability.
3. Experiences & Loyalty
- Digital Warranty & Loyalty Programs: Introducing a digital warranty registry could add layer of consumer confidence. Consumers could register their products and receive loyalty points. This program could create brand cohesion across retail and online marketplaces, driving repeat purchases through the customer’s preferred channels, while gathering valuable consumer insights.
- Virtual & In-Person Events: Caraway could host pop-up events or in-person cooking demos in major cities. These events would give potential customers the chance to try out Caraway cookware, meet local chefs, and participate in fun cooking classes, all while building a sense of community. By tapping into regional food cultures and creating a more localized connection with customers, consumers can deepening their emotional connection to the products.
- VIP Cooking Events: Members of a loyalty program could gain exclusive access to VIP cooking classes or events with celebrity chefs. These events would not only build customer loyalty but also create shareable, social media-worthy moments. I received an invitation to a virtual celebrity cooking class. A box of ingredients arrived in the mail and I joined a Zoom call with 40 other participants to cook and share stories. It was fun and one of the best brand experiences I've enjoyed firsthand.
Conclusion
Caraway’s success in a crowded cookware market hinges on its ability to go beyond the functionality of its products and tap into the emotional, social, and communal aspects of cooking.
By focusing on community-driven content, leveraging brand ambassadors, and offering experiential touchpoints, Caraway can create a loyal customer base and build a lasting brand identity.
These strategies will help position Caraway as an integral part of the memories and traditions that happen in kitchens and around the table.
I'd love to be a part of Caraway's brand growth.