Work
Case Study:
Thrive Market’s Back to School, Back to Busy Campaign –
S3 Summer 2026
Role: Head of Creative, leadingThrive Market's biggest seasonal campaign of the year — directed 2 CTV spots in-house, led a brand color extension, and partnered with Member Growth and external agencies on paid media and additional CTV creative.
The Insight: Back-to-school is a collective reset, not just a parenting moment. People aren't chasing perfection, they want to feel prepared for a busier season. The real barrier to healthy habits isn't motivation, it's friction.
The Big Idea: Be your own hero this busy season. Thrive Market became the enabler, the consumer the hero, with the idea flexing across two audiences: lunchbox hacks and dinner shortcuts for parents, the same reset energy applied to personal goals for wellness-minded non-parents. Creative leaned into authenticity over polish, every ad built to feel like advice from a friend, not a brand.
I also led an extension of the brand's color palette, introducing brighter, higher-contrast tones built to perform in fast-scroll environments like paid social and CTV, proof that performance and brand integrity aren't in tension.
Execution:
CTV: Directed 2 of 5 campaign spots, produced in-house on a lean budget without sacrificing production quality; worked with external agency on 3 spots.
Paid Social & Brand Color: Directed a brighter, higher-contrast palette extension built to perform in fast-scroll environments; in-house creative assets were adapted by the paid social team across Meta, TikTok, and CTV
Onsite, Organic & IRL: Directed seasonal banners, organic social content, and creative for real-world activations, sampling and sponsorships at schools, fitness studios, and community events
Outcome: One of the brand's strongest acquisition periods of the year, with year-over-year efficiency gains in cost per new member. Authenticity-driven, creator-led content outperformed polished advertising, shaping a broader shift in paid creative strategy, while IRL activation extended the brand's reach well beyond digital.
Team: Matthew Schulert, Elisha Knight, Marlie Woodford, Brittany Moser, Laura Levin, Adrienne Lotto, Jon Kim, Jeffrey Chan, Garrin Yabuta, Lina Kamb, Sara Merrill, Julia Medwin
Healthy Without the Hard Work
Case Study:
Thrive Market’s SNAB EBT Campaign
Role: Head of Creative, leading brand and campaign creative for the launch, partnering closely with Comms, Engineering, Mission, Product, and Growth to bring a near-decade-long mission milestone to life across channels.
The Insight: Thrive Market had been fighting for this moment since 2016, when a petition to the USDA to let online retailers accept SNAP drew over 300,000 signatures. After two rejected applications, the USDA finally approved Thrive to accept EBT payments, making it the first online-only retailer to do so. Meanwhile, the need had only grown: over 42 million Americans rely on SNAP benefits, and online SNAP shopping was climbing month over month. The insight wasn't just "we now accept a new payment method," it was that Thrive was finally able to make good on a promise it had spent years fighting for.
The Big Idea: "We're proud to accept SNAP EBT." A confident, historic-first announcement, not a quiet feature update, built around three reasons to believe: accessible (a curated assortment and Gives program ensuring real access, not a stripped-down offering), affordable (the vast majority of the catalog SNAP-eligible), and environmentally conscious (sustainable products delivered with carbon-neutral shipping). The launch was staged deliberately: a PR-exclusive lead to secure earned media before any brand channels went live, a two-week California pilot to prove the model, then a full national rollout across onsite, email, SMS, push, blog, and organic social, each carrying the same confident, mission-forward message.
Outcome/Impact:
Generated meaningful earned media as a genuine industry first, well beyond a typical feature-launch announcement
Extended into an always-on, multi-month marketing calendar (member and non-member tracks, nonprofit and anti-hunger group partnerships, ongoing promo testing), rather than a single moment
Reinforced Thrive's long-term positioning as a mission-driven, Public Benefit Corporation grocer with a concrete access milestone to point to
Team: Matthew Schulert, Elisha Knight, Brittany Moser, Laura Levin, Adrienne Lotto, Jon Kim, Jeffrey Chan, Garrin Yabuta, Lina Kamb, Amy Roberts Osni, Alyssa Kluge, Kristin DiSimone, Julia Medwin
Case Study:
Thrive Market’s Do Healthy Your Way — S1 Winter Campaign 2025
Role: Head of Creative, overseeing strategy, creative direction, and execution across a 25+ person team spanning photo, design, social, and content.
The Insight: At the start of the year, people aren't chasing a "new year, new you" overhaul — they want small, realistic wins. Frame the insight around progress over perfection: healthier swaps that fit real, busy lives rather than resolutions people abandon by February.
The Big Idea: "Do Healthy Your Way" — a flexible campaign theme that let a two-month content calendar (7+ sub-campaigns, multiple channels) all speak with one voice while adapting to different audiences: parents, sober-curious shoppers, everyday snackers, gift-givers.
Execution:
Email: Hero campaign email built around everyday pantry swaps, anchoring the season's biggest promotional push
Social: A recipe/lifestyle series adapting the message by audience, quick swaps for parents, flavor-forward picks for sober-curious shoppers, without breaking visual consistency
Onsite: Seasonal banners and landing pages carrying the campaign's photography and palette through the shopping experience
Outcome: Do Healthy Your Way became one of the season's most cohesive campaigns, proving a single insight could flex across seven+ sub-moments and multiple audiences without losing its throughline, a model the team carried into later seasonal campaigns.
Team: Matthew Schulert, Elisha Knight, Brittany Moser, Laura Levin, Adrienne Lotto, Jon Kim, Jeffrey Chan, Garrin Yabuta, Lina Kamb, Amy Roberts Osni
Case Study:
Thrive Market’s Healthy In A Pinch Campaign – S3 Summer 2025
Role: Head of Creative — set strategy and creative direction across brand, promotional, and mission work-streams spanning email, onsite, social, and blog. Directed the seasonal color palette and led creative integration for celebrity brand partnerships (Chrissy Teigen's Cravings, Khloe Kardashian's Khloud).
The Insight: Late summer is a collective reset — parents prepping kids, everyone else easing back into routine. Members aren't chasing perfection; they want healthy habits that survive a busy season. The barrier isn't motivation, it's friction and time.
The Big Idea: Healthy in a Pinch. The campaign shifted Thrive Market's voice from retailer to trusted, mom-to-mom resource — leading with meals and lunches instead of snacks, with savings as reassurance rather than the headline. Rather than one sale event, it ran as a month of rotating discovery: fresh deals and gifts every week. It flexed across two audiences on one through-line:
Parents: lunchbox hacks, brain-fuel breakfasts, meal-prep shortcuts
Everyone else: the same reset energy applied to supplements, self-care, and pantry restocks
Creative favored relatability over polish — real parent Thriver tips, kid-voiced moments, and a recurring "After Schoolies" awards format that let usage do the selling.
Execution:
Brand & Promo: Directed creative for a 28-day rotating sale (260+ brands, weekly GWPs) staggered to avoid single-week revenue spikes
Editorial Series: Directed a five-part content arc — BTS Pro Tips, Brain Fuel, Brands Founded by Moms, After Schoolies, and a family meal-prep plan
Celebrity Partnerships: Directed integration for Cravings and Khloud across email, onsite, and social
Mission: Directed the Food Equality Back-to-School update, including a kids' taste-test concept
Outcome: Back-to-school is consistently one of Thrive Market's highest-revenue windows — last year's version drove +260% YoY promo revenue growth. This season built on that by shifting to a mom-to-mom voice, extending the sale into a month-long rotating format, and layering in celebrity and mission storytelling to deepen trust beyond the transaction.
Team: Matthew Schulert, Elisha Knight, Brittany Moser, Laura Levin, Adrienne Lotto, Jon Kim, Jeffrey Chan, Garrin Yabuta, Lina Kamb, Amy Roberts Osni, Kristin DiSimone, Julia Medwin
Case Study:
Cravings x Thrive Market Product Launch Campaign
Role: Head of Creative, overseeing strategy, creative direction, and execution across a 25+ person team spanning photo, design, social, and content.
The Insight: At the start of the year, people aren't chasing a "new year, new you" overhaul — they want small, realistic wins. Frame the insight around progress over perfection: healthier swaps that fit real, busy lives rather than resolutions people abandon by February.
The Big Idea: "Do Healthy Your Way" — a flexible campaign theme that let a two-month content calendar (7+ sub-campaigns, multiple channels) all speak with one voice while adapting to different audiences: parents, sober-curious shoppers, everyday snackers, gift-givers.
Execution:
Email: Hero campaign email built around everyday pantry swaps, anchoring the season's biggest promotional push
Social: A recipe/lifestyle series adapting the message by audience, quick swaps for parents, flavor-forward picks for sober-curious shoppers, without breaking visual consistency
Onsite: Seasonal banners and landing pages carrying the campaign's photography and palette through the shopping experience
Outcome: Do Healthy Your Way became one of the season's most cohesive campaigns, proving a single insight could flex across seven+ sub-moments and multiple audiences without losing its throughline, a model the team carried into later seasonal campaigns.
Team: Matthew Schulert, Elisha Knight, Brittany Moser, Laura Levin, Adrienne Lotto, Jon Kim, Jeffrey Chan, Garrin Yabuta, Lina Kamb, Amy Roberts Osni
Case Study:
FabFitFun Fall Box Campaign – Fall 2022
Role: Creative Director - leading the FL22 Season of Discovery campaign end-to-end, setting the creative vision and approach deck, and directing Design, Photo, and Video across every channel (box, CRM, social, magazine, merch, video).
The Insight: Fall has always been an anticipated season (the "pumpkin spice" effect), but the category was leaning on redundant tropes. The opportunity: reframe fall around the feeling it triggers, not nostalgia, but the anticipation of a new school year, new routines, new challenges. Members were craving permission to be curious and try something new, not just cozy up.
The Big Idea: The Season of Discovery, positioning FabFitFun as the guide for members' "back to school" energy as adults: discovering new products, new skills, new versions of themselves, built around the line "Discover Your Best Self." The idea gave Merch, Photo, and Copy a shared narrative (learning, transformation, curiosity) instead of a generic autumnal mood.
Execution:
Campaign & Palette: Built the entire seasonal campaign concept and color palette (Azalea pink, Rust, Pumpkin, Butterscotch, Spruce), directing all creative across every channel
Box: Illustrated the box art; managed production end-to-end with manufacturers and printers, including press checks
Email: Directed texture- and palette-driven templates anchoring seasonal promotions, Fall Box reveal, Add-Ons, and Customization windows
Social: Directed Instagram content adapting the "Discover Your Best Self" narrative across formats, full-bleed textures, type lockups, and stickers, while keeping consistency across posts
Onsite/Merch: Directed seasonal banners carrying the campaign's photography, palette, and messaging through Add-Ons, Customization, and Fall Edit Sale moments
Magazine: Designed and edited the FabFitFun magazine, extending the seasonal theme into editorial spreads
Video: Creative direction and end card development and design
Outcome: A unified, distinctly-branded seasonal identity that moved the "fall" conversation from generic autumnal cliché to a proprietary FabFitFun narrative — giving cross-functional teams a single creative system to build from, with hands-on production ownership (illustration, print, press checks, magazine design/editing) ensuring brand fidelity from concept through physical product.
Team: JR Curley, Adriana Crespin, Chastity Mancera, Esther Perel, Andrew Inglin, Tasha Ball Baker, Esteban Camarillo, Mei Ly, Kari St. Arnault, Amanda Costello
Case Study:
Navitas Rebrand & Campaign Launch
Role: Creative Lead / Art Director — leading rebrand and brand identity, packaging, OOH, retail, ecomm, and social design, plus experiential design for trade show presence and lifestyle photography; managed packaging vendors and the production team, and contributed to copy development.
The Insight: In a crowded natural foods category, "superfood" had become a buzzword without a brand standing behind it. Navitas Organics also needed a visual identity that could modernize the brand, pop on shelf, and build real shelf recognition, not just claim the superfood territory, but look and feel credible enough to own it, standing out in a category full of similar-looking packaging.
The Big Idea: Position Navitas Organics as the organic superfood authority, official, not aspirational. That meant designing a dedicated superfood seal to certify the product line at a glance, and extending that same rigor across packaging, trade show presence, and lifestyle imagery so every touchpoint reinforced the same brand promise.
Execution:
Brand Identity: Designed an organic superfood seal, officiating the product line and giving the brand a mark of authority across all packaging
Packaging: Led design across 60+ SKUs, with each element built to communicate brand story and highlight individual product benefits, not just decorate the shelf
Trade Show Presence: Art directed Navitas Organics' Expo West booth, one of the show's largest footprints, overseeing banners, lighting, swag, and sample packaging months ahead of launch
Lifestyle Photography: Led art direction, production, location scouting, and product placement for a lifestyle shoot in Southern California, bringing the brand's identity to life beyond the product itself
Outcome: The rebrand and packaging system supported measurable brand growth, expanding retail distribution into major accounts like Costco and Target, deepening curation at Whole Foods, and extending into hospitality partnerships with hotel groups. Experiential presence grew alongside it, from Expo West to Wanderlust Festival, building brand visibility and industry recognition. On the product side, hands-on involvement in NPD included designing a SKU from concept through launch that became the brand's highest-grossing product of the year, contributing directly to increased market share and overall growth.
Team: Judy Hemming, Miranda Malinowsky, Klaus Larsen, Kacey Kalis (in-house); Tara Blanchard & Joy Green (models), Oliver Bart (photography), Kimmy Erin (stylist), Casey Gouveia (h&m), Julie Morris (food stylist)Models: Tara Blanchard & Joy
Beyond her core leadership roles, Sara has lent creative direction, brand strategy, and design expertise to a diverse range of brands across tech, hospitality, fashion, retail, food, and culture — including Omni Hotels, Virgin America, Anthropologie, French Connection, Target, Costco, California Pizza Kitchen, Whole Foods, Bolthouse Farms, Yumi, Amazon, LACMA, Storm Interiors, and Hail Merry — bringing brand storytelling and visual identity to life across categories and audiences of every scale.