ELEVATING A BRAND: CONTENT FOR A LUXURY FLORIST


THE MISSION

For two years, I created high-quality photographic and video content for Flowers Vasette's Instagram profile and developed a strategic formula for producing content. My mission was to position Flowers Vasette as the leader of their field in the minds of their repeating and potential future customers by showcasing the scope of their services through the creation of striking and engaging digital content featuring their products and team. To achieve this, I needed to improve the aesthetics of their Instagram page, develop relationships with key Flowers Vasette staff to enable projects and build a stronger bond with their current customer base.

THE OUTCOME

By referencing the data provided by Instagram analytics, I was able to evaluate the visual tastes of their followers. This evaluation aided the development of a strategy and style that guided my artistic decisions when creating photographic and video content. Over a few months, I implemented a new stylistic approach that led to a more consistent and sophisticated feel.

THE IMPACT

Implementing a strategic approach and creating high-quality photographic and video content resulted in the retention of loyalty, new followers and clients. This translated into an increase in sales. There were more likes per post, higher engagement with posts and an increase of followers. Phone sales and emails referencing images I captured would flow in regularly leading to higher revenue via phone sales, the website and retail space. There was also a direct correlation between our increase in bookings for weddings and other events with clients directly referencing images I had captured inspiring them to choose Flowers Vasette as the images clearly represented the range of work Flowers Vasette could do.

SERVICES

Photography / Videography / Image Retouching / Video Editing / Social Media Strategy / Copywriting






247 BRUNSWICK STREET, FITZROY


Many people within the Australian floral industry speak of Flowers Vasette in elite terms and consider them to be the best floral and events business of its kind. Flowers Vasette (often lovingly shortened to simply Vasette) opened its doors in 1989 and has grown to now offer an online retail space, full-service floral styling for events in addition to their original iconic retail space located in Fitzroy, Melbourne.










FINDING THE SPOTLIGHT



The Melbourne (and global) floral industry has become oversaturated, making it challenging to stay relevant on Instagram. Whilst more tech-savvy florists began to dominate the social media space, Vasette lacked the know-how and started to fall out of the spotlight and lose the attention of their most loyal fans. Vasette wasn't sharing their story, the scope of their services, nor were they giving justice to the premium quality of their design work. The loss of interest in their audience was mainly because the photos of their work mimicked the images created by their competitors. Vasette needed stand-out content that delivered their reputation as an industry leader on Instagram and further digital platforms; a feast for the eyes that would inspire and excite their online following.

As a former florist myself, Flowers Vasette engaged me to develop digital content and their brand. I was tasked to create images and video content that expressed the calibre of their design work, share their company story and inform customers of their products and services. They gave me minimal direction, hoping to see what a new pair of eyes noticed.








THE FOUR PILLARS OF THE FEED


After six months of trial and error, I identified four core categories of digital content that benefited the business in key target areas of either sales, Instagram engagement, or wedding and event bookings.




PILLAR 1

A NOD TO THE DUTCH MASTERS


Still life paintings from the Dutch Golden Age were an inspiration to the owner and many of the florists. Using my skills in lighting, and a keen eye for colour, I lit and captured Vasette floral arrangements the same way Rembrandt would light his still life subjects. This moody photographic style proved to be most useful when showcasing flowers that arrived fresh from the market that morning. Customers would call in requesting flowers that they saw in the Instagram photo I shot and posted that same morning.











PILLAR 2

WALL SHOTS


Before I even picked up my DSLR, I evaluated Instagram analytics to understand what the followers currently loved the most about Vasette's profile. The images of a florist holding a beautiful arrangement in front of a grey wall were the highest performing photos. I decided to continue this already established concept but improve upon the photographic technique. Further, Vasette did not have the shopping functionalities set up on their Instagram profile, so I activated them to make the well-loved images profitable for the business.

I pushed this concept further by introducing slow-motion videos, textures and colours that complimented the arrangements. This style of imagery transferred nicely onto Instagram stories as well.















PILLAR 3

PRODUCT PHOTOGRAPHY


A previous freelance photographer established the look of the website product photography before my start at Vasette. I followed this style to keep consistency but decided to add a little more "WOW" by occasionally creating simple stop motion videos that made the products feel less stagnant on Instagram. By making them into a video, these posts performed better as the Instagram algorithm favours video content. Further, these posts not only performed well in likes and views but also directly translated to online sales as new designs were announced on the feed and made instantly shoppable.









PILLAR 4

EVENTS & WEDDINGS


Posting images of event work would result in a boost in event and wedding inquiries. These images would pull the lowest numbers on the Instagram feed, but brides would reference them frequently in emails or wedding consultations. While shooting an event, I would make a point to capture the florists at work as well as the final result. I found that showing the faces behind Vasette created a narrative and informed their audience of the scale of the business and scope of work created by the team.






INSTAGRAM STORIES



We informed our audience of brand relationships and collaborations using Instagram stories. Examples of key collaborators and clients include Vogue Australia, Mecca Cosmetica, and the National Gallery of Victoria, to name a few. The florals for these brands were designed with "wow factor" in mind. They were truly incredible both close-up and to witness the scale of these installations. I captured the creation of these events (in addition to still images) on video, edited the footage in Adobe Premiere, and created sleek split-screen stories for Instagram so all the followers could experience how major events come together.

Stories were also developed to become incredibly important when promoting fresh flowers and plants daily and would give the retail shopfront an immediate boost in sales. These stories delivered a snapshot of products in-store without making the feed feel product-heavy and messy or breaking the strategy of the pillars that built the feed's aesthetic.











THE IMPACT


This investment in high-quality photographic and video content created trust in and appreciation of the Vasette brand, elevating their digital content to reflect the reputation of their product and team of florists. There were more likes per post, higher engagement with posts was recorded in addition to a direct translation to sales, further, there was a 24k+ increase of followers during my time with Vasette which translates to a 50% increase within an incredibly saturated and competitive market. Phone sales and emails referencing images I captured would flow in regularly that in turn, resulted in higher sales and revenue. There was a direct correlation between our increase in bookings for weddings and events and our posts on Instagram featuring our floral event work. In addition to the social media gains, I developed an entire library of images for Vasette to use for their quotes, newsletters, editorial promotions, and their website.

A key area of impact and success was the frequency with which members of the Vasette audience would repost images I captured for the Vasette Instagram profile, sharing them far and wide. Further indicating I had achieved one of my key goals for Vasette of creating stand-out images and content tied to their brand.


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