This year, The Lily experimented with different ways to tell stories, create content and promote brand awareness. Our experiments came in the form of two murals, a gift guide, weekly comics, an Instagram-only book club, a video series about contraception, a female-focused social media campaign and a highly visual bi-weekly newsletter. View our staff portfolio below.
Content
Louder mural | Election mural | Gift guide | Comics | Lily Lines | “31 days, 31 firsts” | Lily Lit Club | “When Used Correctly”
1. Louder mural
We wanted people to see The Lily’s message in the wild, so we created a mural, plus corresponding video and social content for International Women’s Day and Women’s History Month. The theme? “We’re getting louder.”
We threw a party to celebrate the launch of the mural. More than 125 guests (including local social media influencers) shared images of the mural using #thelilyisloud, received totes with the mural design on them, and participated in a video confessional booth telling us why they’re getting loud.
For a more in-depth look at the project, watch commentary from art director Amy Cavenaile and mural artist Annica Lydenberg and see the painting process in less than 30 seconds.
2. Election mural
To mark the historic number of female candidates in this year’s midterm elections, The Lily live-painted a mural of an eagle with 184 feathers, one for each of the 184 women who were first-time candidates for congressional or gubernatorial seats, or sought a higher office in Congress. Each time a female candidate won her seat, a feather was colored in. The final product conveyed how many non-incumbent women were elected to office.
We recorded Facebook and IG live video on election night, so our followers could see each feather being filled in. We also interspersed progress photos of the project with our female-focused coverage of the midterms.
3. Gift Guide
The Lily elevates stories about women. Our annual gift guide is no different. This year, we curated a list of 52 items made and curated by women.
We promoted the guide using an Instagram mural, where nine individual posts make up one larger image when viewed from our profile. We created an Instagram story series called “Meet the Maker” where some of the women behind each product talked about their business. We also did staff roundups of our top five favorite gifts on Instagram.
4. Comics
Each week we publish a comic on Instagram using the slideshow feature. These posts have consistently high engagement and allow us to share perspectives from a variety of female artists. You can find all of our comics here and three of our favorites below:
Brianna Gilmartin on work ethic:
Brittany Long Olson on animal rights at zoos:
Katie Wheeler on male parenting:
5. Lily Lines
Lily Lines is a twice-weekly newsletter about women. Our Thursday edition is highly visual and is typically an in-depth look at one topic. View the Lily Lines archive here and see our four favorite issues below.
6. “31 days, 31 firsts” on Snapchat
For Women’s History Month, we designed a social campaign called “31 days, 31 firsts.” It focused on women who have been the first of their kind. We enlisted four female illustrators to depict modern day icons like Rihanna — the first woman to win “Shoe of the Year” — to figures who paved the way long before we were born: Liliʻuokalani, the first queen of the Kingdom of Hawaii, ruled more than a century ago. The campaign was featured on The Washington Post’s Snapchat discover channel.
7. Lily Lit Club
Lily Lit Club is a monthly book club for the curious minded that highlights female authors and lives solely on Instagram. We share author photos, quotes from books and giveaways.
8. “When Used Correctly”
This video series which can be streamed on Instagram’s IGTV and Facebook Watch, delves into the most commonly asked questions surrounding contraception. Each episode lasts two to three minutes and features personal stories about contraception from real women along with expert voices. Together they tackle subjects such as how a woman’s body changes throughout her menstrual cycle to when birth control was first introduced in pop culture.
