Le Soleil Français

Campaign Strategy, Photography, Email Marketing, Social Media, Product pattern Design, location scouting

My fellow graphic designer and I created this collection while working as in-house designers at ALOHA Collection. ALOHA is a Hawaiian lifestyle brand that makes colorful splash-proof travel bags great for the beach, pool or plane. ALOHA did destination capsules and decided to make a French collection that we titled, “Le Soleil Français”, or “The French Sun.”

ALOHA’s core branding is very much tied with Hawaii as the owners are native Hawaiian and want to maintain authenticity and respect for the islands. In order to connect our audience to France and still stay true to our Hawaiian/Polynesian culture, we took the approach of ALOHA girl goes abroad. Our model, Hinatea, is a Tahitian model and surfer and lived in France for many years so we decided this was the perfect casting to connect the two regions and dive into storytelling.

The core prints and patterns of ALOHA bags are very tropical and bold so we decided to make this collection for our customers that preferred more neutral colors and patterns. One of our goals for this campaign was to inspire our customers to travel and explore so we included mini travel guides for all the destinations where we shot. ALOHA values storytelling so the copy really focuses on bringing our customer along throughout the product launches, including inspiration behind the designs and a Q&A with Hinatea.

We wanted this collection to represent the South of France and felt that in order to do that we need to create a seaside collection and countryside collection. We pulled inspiration for this collection from our own travels and our love of bold matisse prints that compliment the delicate french countryside color palette. We wanted the whole collection to feel warm, inspiring, and nostalgic so we also played into a 1960s film look.

ALOHA’s brand front is Gotham which is a very clean simple font so we could play around with display fonts for this collection. We obviously wanted a French looking font with some sophistication but still playful. We chose a classic and elegant serif, IvyPresto, and a hand drawn script with character, Gourmet le French script, to pair with Gotham. The script was reserved for accents and secondary text and design elements.

Designed with the modern feminine traveler in mind, our “Le Soleil Français” Collection is versatile and ready for any kind of day under the sun. Ride bicycles with us through lavender fields and join us for a picnic beneath the olive trees. Hop on the back of our scooter and explore the weekend markets. Meet us under the striped umbrellas for a seaside apéritif. Sail away with us and take a dip at our favorite secret beach. The blues of the Mediterranean mixed with the lavenders and greens of the countryside will have you dreaming of warm days under the French Sun.

Shot around the South of France in five locations. Half the collection draws inspiration from the bold, graphic, organic patterns of the seaside and the other half plays into the soft, delicate feeling of the countryside. The seaside prints were shot in Nice, Antibes, and Biarritz and the countryside prints were shot in Saint-Tropez and Ramatuelle. The shoot captured the natural beauty of the area, the luxurious feeling of the French Riviera, and the versatility and utility of the Splash-Proof Travel Bags from ALOHA Collection.

The core prints and patterns of ALOHA bags are very tropical and bold so we decided to make this collection for our customers that preferred more neutral colors and patterns. One of our goals for this campaign was to inspire our customers to travel and explore so we included mini travel guides for all the destinations where we shot. ALOHA values storytelling so the copy really focuses on bringing our customer along throughout the product launches, including inspiration behind the designs and a Q&A with Hinatea.

We launched the entire campaign at once on our website and then each day did a feature on social. Each print or group of prints had a location associated with it so we also had mini travel guides on stories with our recommendations. Mixed in were print inspiration cards and stylized photos. Our goal was to create value add for our followers by providing some travel content they'd want to save for later.

Much like the Social content, we wanted the marketing emails to of course highlight the prints and products but also provide some insight into the collection with inspiration and storytelling, travel guides, and a q&a with our model. We really want to connect to our audience and bring them along with us in what we do and why we do it. We have grown a lot as a brand but want to stick to our roots and connect with our 'ohana. We also provided links to the shopping collection, our travel guide blog and the campaign lookbook.

Concept & Strategy: Caroline Pickering and Sarah Crow

Print Design: Caroline Pickering and Sarah Crow

Graphic Design: Caroline Pickering

Lifestyle Photography: Caroline Pickering

Model: Hinatea Boosie

Stylist: Sarah Crow

Copy: ALOHA Collection

Brand: ALOHA Collection