Before launching Studio Propel, I spent years in marketing creating weekly marketing campaigns. These campaigns were always tied to cultural moments, holidays, and relevant happenings. Rather than pushing constant product messages, I focused on finding authentic alignments between the brand and the world around us.
It taught me that showing up at the right moment, with the right tone, creates impact that generic content rarely matches. This approach I've carried forward to me building Studio Propel.
Key Lessons from Relevance-Driven Campaigns
By doing this, I have personally learned several things that brands can leverage to build deeper connections:
- Natural top-of-mind presence: When I stopped pushing hard sales and started aligning with what was happening in the world, I noticed our brand stayed visible in a way that felt organic rather than intrusive. It's about joining an existing conversation instead of trying to force a new one.
- Deeper emotional connections: Linking campaigns to shared cultural moments allowed me to speak to real human experiences, values, and feelings. It showed our audience that we cared about the same things they did, moving the relationship past just transactional.
- Higher shareability and recall: I found that content syncing with what people are already thinking about spreads more naturally and lingers longer. When you hit the right moment, people want to share it because it reflects their current state of mind.
- Smarter creative focus: For me, the calendar became a major asset. It provides a meaningful hook, giving our stories a stronger emotional foundation from the start so we aren't constantly trying to build a narrative out of thin air.
- Improved brand perception: Doing this consistently taught me that regular, thoughtful participation in cultural conversations positions a brand as observant, human, and culturally aware, rather than a cold corporation.
My core learning is simple: "Relevance turns passing attention into meaningful connection."
Case Study: The Alice Day Concept Film
A few months ago, our team developed an idea for a concept film. We wanted to capture that feeling when you are reading and find a line that stops you in your tracks because it speaks directly to your life—that quiet moment where you pause, reflect, and look at things a little differently.
We began searching for the right cultural anchor. That search led us to Alice Day (Alice in Wonderland Day), celebrated annually on July 4th. The alignment felt perfect. We focused all our preparation on this event, combining our storytelling skills with a timely campaign launch to give the film a natural home in the cultural calendar.
This project was a direct evolution of the weekly campaign mindset I practiced earlier in my career, now executed at this level.
Here's the film we createdCuriouser
In today's landscape, audiences have learned to tune out noise. But I think they still respond positively to brands that demonstrate cultural awareness and thoughtful timing.
"People don't just remember what you sell. They remember how you made them feel," especially when you met them at the right moment.