Office Clothier Marketing Campaign
The Business:
Office Clothier is an e-commerce and physical specialty vintage store in Bloomington, Indiana, operated by two vintage collectors offering curated 70s–90s sustainable fashion, personal styling, and private showroom appointments.
The Problem:
Despite high customer satisfaction and a strong product offering, the business suffered from severe lack of awareness and foot traffic due to a hidden second-floor location up a large staircase, restricted operating hours during student class times, and uninspired social media content (like clothing flat-lays) that failed to connect with the target student demographic. My team of four had to come up with a convincing marketing approach to help further promote and grow their clothing business.
My Contribution:
Conducted on-site qualitative research with owners and shoppers, performed a competitive brand analysis against local vintage malls and fast-fashion retailers (Urban Outfitters, H&M), built the target student persona "Sustainable Stella," and designed a multi-channel campaign strategy using Instagram, Spotify audio, YouTube storyboards, and campus print media.
Strategic Marketing & UX Process
1. On-Site Fieldwork & Business Audit ➔ Visited the upstairs showroom on Kirkwood Ave to conduct on-site observations and interviews with the co-owners and customers, while auditing their website and Instagram page to identify foot traffic and awareness bottlenecks.
2. Competitive & Positioning Analysis ➔ Evaluated local thrift markets alongside major chains like Plato's Closet, Urban Outfitters, and H&M, establishing a follower positioning strategy that highlighted hand-picked, curated vintage over overwhelming thrift bins.
3. Target Persona Architecture ➔ Developed the "Sustainable Stella" persona—a 21-year-old IU fashion merchandising student—to map Gen Z buying habits, college budget constraints, and sustainability preferences.
4. Creative Brief & Core Messaging ➔ Defined the single most compelling message framing Office Clothier as a retro fashion mixing pot that makes turning away from fast fashion easy.
5. Storyboarding & Inclusive Visual Direction ➔ Designed a storyboard ad for YouTube featuring a broad spectrum of people. Specifically highlighting menswear and gender/size-inclusive styles—to shift social content away from static clothing flat-lays toward human-centered storytelling.
6. Multi-Channel Media Architecture ➔ Mapped out a targeted media selection across social (Instagram stories & grid), streaming (Spotify & SZN podcast ads), and print (campus posters) to increase location awareness among Gen Z students currently at IU.
YouTube Ad Storyboard
Business Impact
Driving Foot Traffic & Conversions: By shifting the visual strategy from static flat-lays to human-centric storytelling and deploying targeted Instagram, Spotify, and campus print ads, my strategy actively solved the store's hidden-location problem—directly converting passive online engagement into increased 2nd-floor foot traffic and private showroom bookings.
Boosting Local Brand Recognition & Sales: By positioning Office Clothier's curated vintage as a convenient, sustainable alternative to fast-fashion competitors like Urban Outfitters and H&M, the strategy expanded brand awareness across the local IU campus and established a repeatable playbook to capture high-value Gen Z shoppers and drive store revenue.
Key Takeaway
Working through this project showed me that marketing can't exist in a vacuum; crafting a compelling campaign meant directly confronting hard operational realities like hidden physical locations, stair-only access, and restricted business hours to actually move the needle on foot traffic.
It also proved to me that visual format drives customer behavior; pivoting away from static branding to human-centered storytelling made it clear that audience engagement relies on helping people authentically visualize themselves in the space and product.
Click the PDF below to learn more about our project:
