Velvet Lounge
25th Anniversary
How I applied digital marketing, strategic social media and content creation skills to market Velvet Lounges’ 25th Anniversary
Karsyn Shugars
Integrated Marketing Communications Student at West Virginia University
About
me
My name is Karsyn Shugars and I currently attend West Virginia University studying Integrated Marketing Communications. I will graduate with my Bachelor of Arts in August 2024.
This past summer I worked with a small business to celebrate their 25th Anniversary. The Velvet Lounge is a women’s clothing boutique located in Downtown Frederick, Maryland. April Reardon, the Velvet Lounge owner, hired me as the Marketing and Content Creation Intern to highlight and celebrate her success as a small business owner. The project consisted of planning, operating, and creating content to successfully market her 25 years of the store. It was the most fulfilling opportunity for someone who hopes to have a career in content creation and digital marketing. I got to work with many talented people including the amazing photographer of the photos shown, Brad Barnwell. The event and content provided for the months of June and July leading up to the aniversary party boosted sales up by 64% alone.
Strategizing
Pictured: Velvet Lounge 25th Anniversary Mood Board
Shugars (2023)
June 19th, 2023
The first time we all met up to discuss this project, we needed to come up with a plan. We spent hours in April’s workshop discussing ideas, mood boards and marketing strategies. Here, we contacted Brad Barnwell photography and Madison Shively, our model for the photoshoot.
The Shoot
Pictured: Madison Shively for VL 25
Barnwell (2023)
July 5th, 2023
Content creation
From our research conducted, platforms such as TikTok and Instagram were going to be the most successful for our project promotion. Attached below is some content I created to do just that.
Celebration
On July 13th we held a private cocktail party at ‘Aprils' home in Frederick Maryland. She gave a toast and people shared their stories from over the last 25 years.
The weekend of July 14th-16th we held the in-store event. We gave away prizes with every purchase, a 25% discount for regular customers, and had a photo booth and flower bouquet-making station. Around the store, we had all new arrivals and small business vendors such as Mari Joy Jewelry set up to purchase. Overall, the store grew 64% in sales just from this project.
Get in touch
shugarskarsyn@gmail.com
301-788-9963
Education
West Virginia University
Bachelor of Arts in
Integrated Marketing Communications
Expected 08/24