COPYWRITER—GUITAR CENTER
The largest musical instrument retailer in the world has a laundry list of creative needs. My work as a copywriter required a variety of disciplines from writing headlines and tag lines to crafting detailed product description pages to conducting in-depth interviews with artists, influencers, and industry leaders. The company placed a ton of importance on utilizing a variety of mediums including print catalogs, print ads, website banners, social media ads/posts, radio and TV commercials, and in-store signage.
DRUM OFF
Guitar Center’s Drum Off was a nationwide competition to find the best drummers in the country. The goal was to be authentic and relatable with an inspiring undertone. The imagery of the used, beat up drums, sticks, and gear and the tagline “It’s Your Time” spoke to drummers who put all of their time and effort into this passion and communicated that Drum Off is a way to showcase those efforts and talents. This campaign covered all mediums, including website banners, social posts, emails, in-store signage, print media ads, and large format outdoor ads.
RAISE GIRLS TO ROCK
Guitar Center partnered with D’Addario to donate 50% of their sales in-store and online to music education for girls. The goal was to inspire young women to learn instruments. Much of the focus in 2019 was to engage their female customer base and diversify the musical landscape. This is just one example of several, female-focused initiatives Guitar Center executed that year. This campaign was supported in-store and online with web, email, social, and print tactics.
CONTENT CREATOR
As the world of YouTube, Tik Tok, Twitch, and Instagram continues to grow, Guitar Center recognized an opportunity to capture a new target market of current and aspiring content creators who need to capture and create easily shareable audio and video content. This campaign was supported with email, a web landing page, and an in-store display and signage.
THE VINYL SHOP
Guitar Center not only sells the instruments to make music, they also sell the finished product. The launch of the online Vinyl Shop was a massive undertaking. Guitar Center’s extensive catalog of vinyl records couldn’t be represented properly in a brick-and-mortar location. The Vinyl Shop allowed customers to browse every title by genre or keyword search. This launch was supported across all digital platforms, including a landing page and microsite experience on the Guitar Center website.
DRUM SPECIALTY GUIDE 2019
Guitar Center still relies on in-home mailers, catalogs, and print pieces to help drive customers to the store. However, the Guitar Center Specialty Guides are more of a coffee table book/magazine-style piece, featuring artist interviews, in-depth product spotlights, and brand awareness pieces. The goal was to inspire and inform with a long form content piece that engaged customers rather than going directly from the mailbox to the trash can. We wanted a significant branding piece that provided extended value to recipients. This print piece was mailed directly to 125,000 recipients and available as a downloadable eBook.
HALLWAY REDESIGN
The creative team was tasked with an internal project of producing framed art to decorate the halls of the entire building. The idea was to create something that was decorative and visually appealing as well as informative and engaging for both employees and visitors to look at and learn from. Hundreds of unique 24x24” frames were designed and written, covering a host of topics from the birth of an underground genre of music to the history of a specific artist. This project was particularly fun because writers were paired with a designer to collaborate from start to finish on each piece.