top of page

vinegar

Brand & Marketing Studio by Shauna Williams

Overview

Led Crown Affair’s Summer Campaign, centered on air-dry rituals and effortless styling. This campaign marked a strategic pivot to lead with emotion-first messaging, balancing aspirational storytelling with clear product hooks.

Result

Crown Affair's buzziest brand campaign to date:

  • $4.3M EMV

  • 6.8% IG engagement rate (+2.7 pts MoM)

  • Press coverage in People Brands & Things and Because of Marketing

BRAND: Crown Affair

INDUSTRY: Haircare, Clean Beauty, Prestige Beauty, Luxury

PROJECT: Brand Campaign

ROLE: Lead (Director of Brand & Integrated Marketing)

Do Summer.gif

Do Summer, Not Your Hair

with quick hair rituals that clear your calendar.

the challenge

Driving awareness without newness.

Summer presented an opportunity to put Crown Affair at the center of the seasonal “summer hair” conversation — but without the launch of a new product, which typically fuels buzz and awareness. The challenge was to cut through the summer noise and create urgency for Crown Affair in a way that felt fresh, culturally relevant, and true to the brand’s ethos — positioning Crown Affair as the go-to for quick, effortless routines that free up time for making memories, not styling your hair in the bathroom.

Summer-Collage.png

strategic approach

Lead with emotion, anchor in rituals.

The insight: Summer is crowded with product launches, but we saw an opportunity to zig while others zag, owning the emotional territory of "reclaiming your time." I developed an emotion-first strategy built on a bold campaign line — "Do Summer, Not Your Hair" — that made Crown Affair synonymous with effortless summer rituals.

 

The framework connected emotional promise ("more time making memories") with functional proof points across air drying, quick refreshes, and post-beach treatments, giving consumers both the why and the how.
 

See messaging frameworks below:

creative execution

360 execution

We brought the campaign line to life through bold, cheeky visuals that anchored in the promise of “Less time styling, more time living.” I developed a modular creative system pairing aspiratoinal lifestyle moments that you could spend more time doing if only you use Crown Affair's time-saving rituals:

​

  • Less time styling, more time wandering

  • Less time styling, more time going places

  • Less time styling, more time bronzing

  • Less time styling, more time spritzing

  • Less time styling, more time unwinding

​

This visual identity connected the emotional “why” with the functional “how,” ensuring Crown Affair felt both aspirational and achievable across every touchpoint.

the results

Crown Affair's most resonant brand campaign.

BRAND IMPACT

  • 163M organic reach and $4.3M EMV (new benchmarks)

  • 6.8% IG engagement rate (+2.7 pts MoM)

  • Press coverage in People Brands & Things and Because of Marketing

 

STRATEGIC WINS

  • Built repeatable messaging playbook (emotional hook --> ritual --> result) adopted for future campaigns

  • Established "less time styling, more time ___" as recognizable brand shorthand

  • Proved emotion-first strategy can drive awareness without product newness, establishing a new playbook for seasonal campaigns

IMG_EA10FDE68CCB-1.jpeg
IMG_C4FCD8FF2E19-1.jpeg
IMG_3886_edited.jpg

I orchestrated execution across all channels to maximize reach and impact:

​

CONTENT & SOCIAL

  • 50+ content pieces cycling through emotional hooks and rituals

  • ShopMy affiliate campaigns and UGC content

  • Chelsea Parke influencer collaboration (highest-performing summer ad)

 

EXPERIENTIAL & PARTNERSHIPS

  • Flamingo Estate influencer/editor BBQ

  • Sunny Days customer event partnership

  • Sephora Air Drying Masterclass

  • Jacob van Loon beach towel collaboration

 

DIGITAL TOOLS & MERCH

  • Interactive Summer Hair Quiz for ritual matching

  • Limited-edition Comb Keychain

  • 12+ thumb-stopping paid assets translating hooks into performance creative

Explore the initiatives:
bottom of page