Fresh off the heels of the successful Summer by Caruso cross-property awareness initiative, I led and designed a holiday campaign that would span the entire Caruso portfolio. The scope included another website designed from scratch and a comprehensive 360-marketing promotion that included print marketing materials, out-of-home ads, social media, banner ads, etc.
Inspiration & Process
Due to the pandemic, Caruso did not have Santa Houses this holiday season, which was my initial spark of inspiration. I wanted to bring the holiday magic to our guests in a digital and print format as seen through the illustrations and designs.
In order to achieve the final product, I started by brainstorming and defining the concept holistically to ensure the design would work across all platforms and deliverables. I then proceeded to develop and design the wireframes and art direct my illustrator to create a bank of incredible holiday illustrations that we utilized across the campaign.
Results
This project was a labor of love and outperformed our Summer by Caruso metrics many times over. We saw an 800% increase of total visits, over 200% increase in traffic acquisition, and 5x increase in total time spent on site.
In-Home Mailer
This tri-fold mailer was distributed to hundreds of thousands of households across Southern California with a “Complimentary Parking” redemption incentive. I created this to reflect the charming Santa House design I created for the Winterland by Caruso website. It is meant to draw in guests to explore the magical world we create on the Caruso properties during the holidays.
In order to gather data on redemption, I designed the redemption incentive on the other side of the mailing address. A QR code is also included to track user interaction and addresses.
Website Design Inspiration
My inspiration for the design of the holiday campaign started with the absence of Santa Houses due to the pandemic. To continue bringing magic and excitement to our guests, I designed a digital Santa House on the Winterland by Caruso website.
The home page brings guests to the inside of Santa’s House where guests are invited to explore the interactive hot spots to view fun and exciting information. Through a guest’s interaction with the hotspot features, we were able to gather data on what information guests were interested in.
Home Page
I included a live “Countdown Clock” to the top of the page to increase a sense of urgency for our guests. It was a gentle reminder that the holiday season was upon us and the countdown to Christmas was on.
Below the “Countdown Clock” was the Title Lockup, featuring a festive typeface. This lockup is used throughout the campaign for branding consistency and awareness.
The main portion of the page is where the magic is at. I worked closely with an illustrator to bring my wireframe to life through use of a specific traditional holiday color palette, style of illustration, and textures.
There was a lot of information that needed to be marketed and with the use of intentional illustrations, we were able to deliver that information in a fun and interactive way. Guests were invited to explore the magic at their own pace which also gave us insight on the information they were interested in.
Special Experiences
This page was designed to feature two fun options for our guests to further explore holidays at Caruso. I wanted to create an interactive page to delight our guests and also capture data on what interested them about our properties and tenants.
Plan Your Visit
“Plan Your Visit” was designed to invite guests to explore categories with on-property suggestions for shopping, dining, events and offers. This page invited guests to plan their own visit depending on their interests.
Book a Trolley Experience
“Book a Trolley Experience” was created as a VIP experience planner. Guests who were interested could book an experience with our VIP team to enjoy an exclusive access to Santa on the iconic Trolley at The Grove while enjoying a sit down dinner or drinks and sweets. In order to reduce the strain on the VIP team, we incorporated a short quiz format to provide information and gather data upon submitting contact information. This helped narrow down requests to the guests that were truly interested and ready to plan their holiday experience.
Results
The Special Experiences page was our top performing page. The VIP team was able to fill all the bookings 2 weeks before the end of the holiday season and demand exceeded expectations.
Influencer Feature
Another feature of the Winterland by Caruso website was showcasing some “Friends of Caruso” who enjoy frequenting Caruso properties during the holiday season. I designed a horizontal scrollable feature with hot spots linking to light boxes spotlighting specific tenants or products.
Advent Calendar
The marketing team wanted to surprise and delight guests in a new and unique way. I designed the Advent Calendar to reflect the thoughtful architecture of the Caruso properties through a “village” of storefronts; each building lights up daily to represent the countdown of days before Christmas. When guests click on each day, a light box appears to show the offer of the day.
Fun Fact
The first day featured an offer for a complimentary Winterland branded mug with a hot chocolate spoon. This offer was redeemed in full within 2 hours of the properties opening.
