I turned "you have to get this" into something you could have before the video ended.
Creators don't take briefs, they take invitations. So we built something worth being in: a fake appraisal show, hand-made outro cards, a program built around what they actually liked, and a way for their fans to get it on the spot.
ROLE:
Concept · Creative Direction · Art Direction · Social-First Program Design · Creator Program Direction
CLIENT:
Google · YouTubE
AGENCY:
Droga5
SCOPE:
Creator program · Content series · Film · Social
The problem
YouTube had become where people went to research products. Unboxing videos alone pulled over a billion views a year. And there was no way to buy the thing you had just fallen for without leaving the platform entirely.
What I did
1. Built the program around the year's real shopping spikes. Five-day creator events across fashion, gadgets and holiday gifts, timed to the moments people were already buying, Black Friday and the holidays included. 60+ top YouTubers talking about their favourite stuff, with viewers buying straight from the video for the first time.
2. Launched it with a fake appraisal show. How Awesome Is This? sent creators to an Awesomeness Appraiser, which doubled as a showcase for the new shoppable unit without ever mentioning it. I sketched the giant meter at the centre of it on a bar napkin with the client, and it was built in a matter of days.
3. Made 100+ videos feel like one thing. I developed the concept and art direction for hand-built animated outro cards that closed every creator video: physical logos made from real objects, designed with an artist, shot in stop motion, scored with original music.
The program lived on YouTube itself, where a viewer could move from one creator's picks to the next without ever leaving.
The launch: a fake appraisal show where four prominent creators brought their picks to an Awesomeness Appraiser. It demoed the new shoppable unit without ever mentioning it.
One episode per creator, each built around what they actually brought in.
Physical logos built from real objects, designed with an artist, shot in stop motion and scored with original music, so 100+ videos across dozens of creators felt like one program.
The case film, cut for awards juries.
IMPACT:
· 16.2M views
· 140M+ social impressions
· 100+ videos over a four-month campaign
· 74% positive sentiment across 8,000+ mentions, 26% neutral, no negativity ·
The launch became the template. Partners used this work as the brief for the Awesome Stuff Weeks that followed
· Webby People's Voice Award, Best Native Advertising
· Covered by DIGIDAY:
The great unboxing: How YouTube is pitching shoppable ads to brands· Covered by SOCIAL MEDIA TODAY:
YouTube Showcases Shoppable Videos as Part of 'Awesome Stuff Week'