Black Friday Sale
Smith & Caughey’s Black Friday Sale Campaign Material and Advertising 2024
S&C’s Black Friday Sale was one of the largest every year, and as part of the Marketing team, it was always a high-energy, fast-paced project. The lead designer had created a template for the look and feel of our sales, and it was my role to work with the buyers and management to roll out the collateral surrounding it. From in-store signage to EDMs, to ecommerce materials and a large social campaign, we ensured everything remained consistent with the brand while meeting tight deadlines. I was also responsible for sourcing and resizing all brand campaign imagery, carefully cross-checking assets against stock levels to avoid promoting unavailable products. It was a true test of coordination and creative agility—one of the highlights of the retail calendar.
Project Name
Black Friday Sale. Smith & Caughey’s 2024
Design Emma Davies
Design Assistance: Tash Coyle
Visual Merchandising and In-store setup Saimai Utto
Year
2024
Socials & Advertising
The campaign included several different discount offers, which made it challenging to keep messaging clear. By using a consistent template and rolling it out across social media as part of the regular marketing mix, we kept everything cohesive and made it easy for customers to recognise it all as part of the same sale.
Instore Signage
In-store signage was created in-house every year, and all but the window vinyls were printed by us in-house also. This included everything from large-format window vinyls and elevator decals to all campaign easels, brand exclusion tickets, POS signs and directional signage across multiple departments.
The work was often very last minute, as terms and conditions frequently changed right up to the launch. It required quick turnarounds, attention to detail, and close collaboration with both the buyers and visual merchandising team to ensure accuracy and consistency. Despite the pressure, it was always rewarding to see the store transform overnight into a cohesive, high-impact retail space.
An important part of the in-store signage was communicating sales terms and conditions, brand exclusions, and promotional details across the store. This included designing clear signage for concession partners as well as additional materials for beauty gift-with-purchase offers. The focus was on making detailed information easy to understand while keeping everything visually consistent and aligned with the overall campaign identity.
E-commerce Marketing Materials
Online marketing collateral played a key role in the success of the Black Friday campaign. I was responsible for creating clear-cut product imagery and using it across our sale landing pages, digital banners, and EDMs.
Due to the high volume of SKUs, this required a fast and consistent editing process to ensure products were presented clearly and aligned with the wider campaign visuals. The website had severe limitations, particularly around layout flexibility and image handling, which meant creative problem-solving was often needed to get the best visual outcome within a rigid framework. Despite the challenges, the digital campaign came together cohesively and drove strong engagement throughout the event.
