The Happy Planner
Role: Chief Marketing Officer
Objective: Scale DTC, grow brand awareness, social engagement, partnerships, and revenue.
Results:
Grew DTC channel 3.5x in revenue from 2019-2021.
Increased Instagram following from 500K to 690K in 18 months.
Created strong partnerships with Michaels, Joann, HSN, and Target.
Created A+ content strategy across owned and earned channels for Amazon, Walmart, and wholesale partners.
Partnered with influencers and talent for new brands & product extensions.
Increased customer file size from 300K to over 800K in 18 months.
brand buzz — drove Digital & Editorial Mentions
I worked with our PR agency to targeted short-lead and long-lead outlets to highlight new product launches, productivity trends — including 2020’s hottest trend: work-from-home hacks. In addition to dozens of product placements, we were frequently featured in B2B stories about the brand, including Today Show segments. We focused on timely & trendy content, photography, and targeting our core demo.
Product Collaborations
During the Summer of 2020 we launched a digital hub for Black creators. Following the successful launch we collaborated with 3 Black designers on exclusive products. Each designer was featured on our website, promoted across email, social, press, and digital ads. Net profits from the sale of the products benefitted NextGen Artist Program. The program provides a structured curriculum with workshops, classes, lectures, mentoring, professional development, apprenticeships, and opportunities for art students.
LICENSING PARTNERSHIPS
DISNEY Mickey Mouse & Minnie Mouse collection launched in Fall 2020 exclusively on thehappyplanner.com. The collection drove $1million+ in sales the first weekend and sold out due to a blitz of product placement and promotion.
For the The Disney Princess collection we partnered with Walmart to drive buzz, traffic, and awareness. The entire collection sold out on Walmart.com in under 8 minutes and drove more than $4 million in revenue to brick-and-mortar stores. It was the most successful Disney launch-to-date in the paper category.
LAUNCHED A TOP RANKING PODCAST
“Plan a Happy Life” reached the top 15 in the self-help category on Apple iTunes. Based on Stephanie Fleming’s book, Plan a Happy Life, the podcast focused on Stephanie’s 4 P formula for living a happy life: planning, purpose, positivity, and persistence.
Community, Influencer, & Ambassador Relationships
Since joining The Happy Planner the social following has grown over 40%, reaching 690K+ on Instagram, 100K+ Youtube, 4M monthly views on Pinterest, and over 175K Facebook followers.
In addition to planners, creative doodlers, teachers, students, and busy moms, we’ve developed a cult following from celebs like Nikki Hilton, designer Prabal Gurung, and Oscar de la Renta’s creative director, Laura Kim. Additionally, we’re working on product extensions with well-known influencers and TV talent on future product collaborations and social campaigns.
DEI & Philanthropic Partnerships
To celebrate Pride ‘21 we developed a small capsule of 4 skus bringing awareness and pledging our support to the LGBTQIA+ community. 25% of net profits from the PRIDE capsule will go to two very special organizations that focus on mental and physical health for the LGBTQIA+ community.
Branding and positioning
Led a qualitative and quantitative study to determine market size, customer segmentation, product/market fit, as well as expansion categories. Through research and focus groups we discovered the brand’s high awareness could drive additional market share in adjacent categories (work planners, spiralbound, and family planners.) To define our story as a lifestyle brand that promotes happiness we decided to rebrand the company, Happy Brands. We also took a note from Facebook and dropped the “the” in front of our name, giving the flexibility to build out new categories under the Happy house of brands: planner, crafts, stickers, and home.
Developed voice, content, logos, talent relationships, PR, go-to-market strategy, and packaging for new look and feel of Happy Planner as well as Work+Life and Organized.