Vitamix S30 Product Launch
New product launch experience that included web microsite, video, and photography.
The Challenge
Launch a new blender product into a new category aimed at a younger, more progressive target audience.
The Solution
I led UX and digital creative efforts internally at Vitamix for a few years and when we heard that a new product was in the works, excitement grew. The S30 was a smaller, lower-profile blender, that was aimed at competing in the marketplace with other cheaper, disposable brands. Vitamix blenders are premium machines that last forever. Vitamix's engineering team wasn't unwilling to release an inferior product so there was no way we could compete head to head on price. We had to position the S30 towards a new (for Vitamix) type of buyer. We could forgo the pristine suburban kitchens of middle-aged owners and explore more versatile kitchen spaces in the urban lofts of younger, growing families. We were able to abandon the old product launch approaches that were typically reserved for big-box retailers and launch the S30 directly on Vitamix.com.
We teamed up with our in-house social team and created teaser content and imagery that was dripped in a variety of networks to help build anticipation. We created a custom microsite on a subdomain so that we could control the entire experience. We conceived and directed fantastic photography at K+P photo and put it front and center in an immersive, visual story for viewers. The microsite included a handful of additional pages and featured parallax scrolling and subtle CSS animations throughout. And instead of a typical narrated, and heavily-scripted, product introduction video I was able to convince the CMO to explore a more natural, lifestyle-based format. The S30 product offered a smaller format and to-go container that we made full use of, in a variety of settings throughout the video.
This product launch completely shifted the future of product launches and video at Vitamix. Our efforts helped solidify the S30 as a strong, versatile contender in a competitive market. This was a truly collaborative effort with a lot of talented professionals. I directed the creative strategy, UX, and overall approach for the launch. Jeremy Skelly led the wireframes and information architecture. I designed a lot of the visual design mock-ups and page layouts in tandem with Aaron Gelston. Aaron also provided illustration, photo, and set direction too. Katie Lovett provided brand, marketing, and product strategy. Keesha Nickison was the copywriter. Steve Gillespie and Bridget Stewart led front-end development. Photography was shot at Kalman + Pabst and SpaceJunk was our video production partner.