Saks Fifth Avenue
Saks Fifth Avenue
Social Media Specialist - Content Production
Louise Follain in Chanel for Saks Fifth Avenue
What does that title mean? Well, I was in charge of creating all social media content for Saks Fifth Avenue. Facebook, Twitter and (mostly) Instagram with brief forays into Snapchat when the event called for it. I’d create and manage a content calendar that reflected both the marketing and business priorities of Saks, as well as making sure to stay up-to-date on what was trending on social while giving our top brands as much love as possible. If we didn’t have assets readily available from buyers or the brands themselves, I’d work with a team of photographers, models, stylists and HMU artists to execute a photoshoot to fill in all of the gaps. And if we didn’t have time, but the product was on hand? Well, sometime’s I’d have to go outside our offices in New York’s financial district, hail a cab or find an open table at an outdoor restaurant and shoot content directly on my phone, myself.
Art + Creative Direction
Bi-monthly, I would produce and direct photo or video shoots based on the priorities for each month. Each shoot would either be divided into themes such as Beauty, Advanced Contemporary Designer, or Menswear, or would be a list of everything we might need to fill any vertical allocation gaps for the next month.
Each shoot required me to draft up overall concepts per story, shot lists, and product wishlists (as well as required products). From there, I’d work with photographers, models and stylists to bring the vision together and execute on set.
I cultivated longstanding working relationships with a series of photographers, models, HMU artists and studios around New York City.
Content Creation
Sometimes, there wasn’t any time for full photoshoots. Suddenly #NationalHandbagDay would be upon us, and we’d want to be in the conversation on Instagram. That required fast thinking on our feet—grabbing product called out in our marketing priorities, and creating content the way Creators and Influencers do, with nothing but their phones and some good lighting. We could get our marching orders and have something posted in 30 minutes (barring approval).
Often, these were our top performers. This was “native” content at its best. No airbrushing, no perfect lighting, nothing too staged. Our audience was smart and wanted to see images of aspirational product in situations not unlike their everyday life, and not unlike the photos they’d take themselves.
