Overview
At Mercari, I led a CEO-driven brand initiative that carried a pivotal marketing campaign, unblocked a stalled design token initiative, and created growth opportunities for a Senior Visual Designer who joined my team following a recent restructuring.
The Challenge
Conflicting stakeholder expectations, CEO-mandated assets, and fractured creative resourcing threatened alignment and follow-through. Owning the project meant clarifying scope and generating consensus on strategy to deliver a cohesive brand direction within an ambitious eight-week timeline.
What I Did
- Persuaded executives to take a “brand evolution” approach rather than attempt a risky full-scale rebrand in eight weeks.
- Grounded creative direction in pragmatic implementation to ensure a smooth rollout.
- Leveraged the rollout to unlock design token adoption which had been blocked for two years.
- Furthered my Senior Visual Designer’s professional development through visible brand stewardship.
Where We Landed
- A fresh take on our brand identity with production-ready assets in eight weeks.
- Organizational commitment for design tokens validated through dark mode theming.
- Increased Senior Designer’s visibility through ownership of brand guidelines and review process.