Case Study: Expanding Brand Storytelling with Denim Hunt
Challenge: Cotton Incorporated, a not for profit organization funded by American upland cotton growers produces no product, but is tasked with developing programming that increases the use of and sale of cotton. Additionally, Cotton Inc. is known for being a conservative organization cautious of its alliances and messaging.
Goal: Create a non-branded platform to support one of the cotton industry’s largest products: denim and utilize this platform to communicate and promote denim trends, industry news and brands.
Tactics: I lead the creative direction and content strategy for the creation of DenimHunt.com, an unbranded, denim promotion outlet. This included branding, logo design, content calendar and interview scheduling. The most successful content was seen through an interview series, “Five Questions for Five Pockets” in which industry experts were asked for their stories and insight. Blog alliances with outlets such as WhoWhatWear and Denimology provided SEO and referral support crucial for growth of this channel. Brand exclusives were secured with Levis, Rock and Republic, Chip and Pepper, Earnest Sewn and many more, providing rich content outside of the typical “as seen on” style coverage denim usually sees.
Results: DenimHunt became the #2 denim website behind Denimology and was featured (along with myself as editor) in outlets such as DNR, Life & Style and the Sundance Channel. The blog continues to thrive and is run and operated by an internal Cotton Incorporated employee.