Case Studies
As an individual, community involvement is a large part of who I am and what I do in my day to day life. Applying my background in communication & digital media, I’ve been able to serve a pivotal role in several projects in my community and professional spaces.
Figure 1. The official artwork for Mixed Mode’s first full-length studio album. Designed by yours truly.
Project: Blossom
blos•som (verb): 1. bloom; 2. to come into one’s own; 3. to achieve a peak period in development
After the success of Mixed Mode’s first studio extended play, Mixology (read about that here!), Mixed Mode was looking to cement the first four years of the group’s journey through their first full-length, professionally recorded, mixed, and mastered studio album (Figure 1). With little knowledge on how to do a social media marketing campaign fundraiser, Mixed Mode entrusted me to help the group raise more than $10,000 of Kickstarter donations in 30 days using Facebook & Instagram as the vehicles for marketing.
Figure 2. Digital marketing assets for the 30 day campaign. All assets were created using Adobe Creative Cloud (Photoshop CC & InDesign CC).
In order to maximize the effectiveness of the campaign, we pulled from some of the strategies that worked for the first EP back in 2017. The officers and I worked together as a team to create a content calendar for each week of the campaign. The initial strategy was to acquire as many donations as possible in the first week, with the intent to be halfway funded by Day 10/30. To engage each member of the group to fully participate in the campaign, we ran an Instagram story co-campaign, where each member was responsible for raising $800 of the $10,000 goal (Figure 2). Members were encouraged to ask friends and family to donate through Venmo in exchange for a shout-out on their member’s respective Instagram story. Members would then transfer Venmo donations on behalf of their donors to the Kickstarter campaign. This proved to be an integral part of Mixed Mode achieving their goal, as Venmo donations allowed some donors to avoid giving out their information to Kickstarter if they didn’t feel comfortable, as well as allowing members to effectively target friends and family who were more likely to give a smaller $5-25 donation than a $100 or more donation.
Knowing that video content is king on social media, the other social media coordinator, Sharik Atkinson, and I worked together to create a promotional video to highlight the importance of each member’s personal connection to the group and how it contributed to the creation of the album (Video 1).
This video served as an introduction not only to the Kickstarter for the album, but additionally provided Mixed Mode with a means of introducing the various voices, stories, and faces that make up the group and the project itself.
On May 16, 2019, Mixed Mode not only met their goal, but exceeded it, raising $10,240 in Kickstarter donations. Blossom released on December 13, 2019. The album received critical acclaim in the a cappella community, earning four Contemporary A Cappella Recording Award (CARA) nominations and winning the CARA for Best Scholastic Debut Album in April 2020. Stream it now on all platforms.
Finding the Next Level
In my work as Marketing Coordinator for The Vocal Company, I have been responsible for the company’s visual branding on social media and the web. Since 2017, I have done all of the graphic design work and much of the video marketing for Next Level (Figure 2), a transformative, educational seminar series focusing on professional development in the music industry. Next Level focuses mainly on three main seminars each summer: studio production, arranging, and music directing/education. In recent years, Next Level has introduced additional seminars on songwriting and vocal performance as well.
Figure 1. The Next Level Production Class of 2017 // Rochester, New York.
Figure 2. Various advertisements I’ve designed for Next Level 2017, 2018 & 2019. This collage includes testimonials, album artwork, sticker designs, Instagram & Facebook posts, and stills from video advertisements.
Video 1. The NLPRODUCE 2017 cover of “Waving Through A Window” has amassed over 360,000 views on YouTube & over 200,000 Spotify streams.
Each year under my direction as Marketing Coordinator and in conjunction with the VP of Sales & Marketing and the Director of Education for The Vocal Company, we have been able to sell out each session of the Next Level seminar series. In fact, the success of Next Level 2017 allowed us to introduce new sessions focusing in vocal performance and songwriting, named NLSPECTRUM & NLMUSE, respectively (Figure 3). Additionally, Next Level 2017’s beginner studio production session, NLPRODUCE, proved particularly successful for their final deliverable: a fully recorded, edited, mixed, and mastered music video cover of “Waving Through A Window,” from the six-time Tony Award-winning musical, Dear Evan Hansen (Video 1). The video currently stands at over 360,000 views on YouTube, with over 200,000 Spotify streams, 13,000 likes and 400 comments on YouTube. Check it out! You might see a familiar face in there. 😉
Figure 3. The success of Next Level 2017 allowed us to add three additional sessions to The Vocal Company’s 2018 summer lineup, including a second arranging workshop, and two new sessions focusing on vocal performance (NLSPECTRUM) and songwriting (NLMUSE).