Work / AMAZON BOOKS
Case 05 / 10
What started as a test became a system: one insight, proven small, then scaled, made personal, and sustained.
speak like a reader, not a brand.
01
best books of the year (so far)
Mid-Year Campaign · Art Direction · Photo + Video Production
A mid-year editorial campaign spotlighting the standout titles released between January and June. The Editors read thousands of books a year, but the feed had never met them as people.
I pitched and executed a roundtable shoot with the Book Editors talking through their favorite reads, and led the look end to end. Intimate, editorial, conversational. The question underneath it: would people trust an Editor more than an ad. The answer shaped everything that came next.
look & feel
i art directed the shoot, top to bottom.
Framing, lighting, casting, set design, wardrobe, shot list, on-set direction. Every frame of the roundtable and the photo and video content around it went through me before it went out.
kindle
device features, editor voice.
We also shot Kindle-specific content that featured device details while keeping the Editors’ voice in frame.
02
best books of the year
Best of the Year · Art Direction · Photo + Video Production · Design
The mid-year test proved it: audiences respond to Editors speaking as passionate readers, not brand copy.
I art directed the photo and video production behind it too, the author content, the Editor commentary footage, and the Kindle-specific shots, device details in frame, while keeping the Editors’ personalities and voice present rather than doing straight product photography.
DROP IMAGE — New favorite read, 9:16
the design
For November, I led visual direction for the flagship campaign built to prove that finding at scale, a zine-like system using scale, hierarchy, and mixed media to hold a hook, Editor commentary, author content, and the full Top 20 list in one cohesive structure.
the genre issue
67%
Impressions
23.9M vs. benchmark, Best Books of the Year
61%
Engagements
140K vs. 87K benchmark, Best Books of the Year
20K
New Followers
Amazon Books + Kindle
03
find your reader persona
Microsite · Interactive · Social
A campaign only travels if the audience can put themselves inside it. The mid-year test proved Editors could be trusted voices. This is where that trust became personal, and where the campaign closed the loop into actual commerce instead of just engagement.
An 8-persona reader-identity quiz: welcome page, context, a multi-question flow with progress and answer-selection feedback, into a conditional results page. Each of the eight outcomes delivered a personalized ‘Picked for You’ list linking straight to Amazon product pages. A QR code in an influencer mailer box routed people from a physical box into the quiz itself.
I co-concepted the persona system and quiz logic with the team, then art directed the microsite build directly with our UX and web development partners, shaping flow, interaction states, and motion through launch.
Welcome / Context + entry
Quiz / Progress + answer state
Result / Persona + picked for you
352K
Site Visits
Reader Persona microsite
66K
Quizzes Completed
19% completion rate
519
Shop Now Clicks
Direct to product pages
Of those who started the quiz, the large majority finished it · 2.4K persona share clicks.
04
show up every week, not just at launch
Evergreen · Art Direction · Photo + Video Production
Weekly evergreen content built real audience relationships through relatable reading moments and recommendations. I art directed the ongoing shoots that fed it, keeping the same visual standard week over week instead of letting quality slide between big moments.
It taught us what resonated, and those insights fed directly back into how we presented the Editors in the Best of the Year campaigns. The system didn’t end at launch. It kept listening.
DROP IMAGE — Fall TBR, 9:16
DROP IMAGE — Editor reel, 9:16
DROP IMAGE — New favorite read, 9:16
The System, End To End
one insight, proven three ways.
9.3M
Impressions
Awareness — paid, owned, organic, influencer
100K
Engagements
Retention — the audience stayed
340K
Clicks
Commerce — awareness that converted to action
The Throughline
trust the reader. then build a campaign that scales it.
real voices over marketing copy
The Editors’ actual opinions carried both campaigns, proof that credibility outperforms polish.
iteration backed by evidence
The mid-year campaign wasn’t a one-off. It was a test, and November spent everything it proved.
content built to be shared, not just seen
The reader-persona quiz and zine format both gave the audience a reason to participate and repost, not just scroll past.
proof that travels past engagement
The persona quiz didn’t just get views. It got 519 people to a product page, the layer most campaigns never reach.
