Scenes Through Sony
Photo Contest
Scenes Through Sony was Focus Camera's promotional campaign for a Sony sponsored photography contest. Working with the marketing team, I led the art direction and visual development of the campaign, creating a recognizable identity that connected Focus Camera with New York City's photography community. The campaign extended across digital advertising, social media, promotional merchandise, and live photo walks, encouraging participation while introducing the brand to a wider audience.
Role:
Art Direction + Campaign Design
Beyond the Contest
The Sony sponsored photography contest gave Focus Camera an opportunity to reach a wider audience beyond its regular retail promotions. Participants competed for a $2,000 Sony shopping spree redeemable in store or online at Focus Camera, with additional $100 Focus Camera gift cards awarded to four category winners. Working with the marketing team, our goals were to encourage contest submissions, increase website traffic, build brand awareness, and strengthen Focus Camera's connection with New York City's photography community.
My responsibility was to develop a visual direction that would distinguish Focus Camera's campaign within the larger Sony promotion. I wanted to create a recognizable campaign identity that appealed to photographers, reflected Focus Camera's brand, and could be adapted across digital advertising, social media, and live events.
Through a Different Lens
My initial concepts incorporated playful, humorous imagery and documentary photography, but after considering Focus Camera's audience and the campaign objectives, I recognized the need for a stronger connection to the brand.
The contest featured four photography categories: Travel & Street, Landscape, Bird & Wildlife, and Portrait. With these categories in mind, I focused on imagery that reflected New York City's streets, architecture, and people, including portraits inspired by fashion photography that appealed to Focus Camera's customers and social media followers.
With Focus Camera's main store located in Brooklyn, I drew inspiration from New York City's urban environment to develop the campaign's visual direction. I paired urban photography with clean, modern typography, keeping the focus on the imagery.
To establish a connection between the contest and Focus Camera, I incorporated the red circular icon from the company's logo into the campaign title, bringing a recognizable brand element into the overall design.
Establishing the Visual Identity
For the final campaign designs, I introduced a subtle grain texture inspired by the noise found in film photography. I focused on a blue color theme, carefully selecting images with complementary tones to create a visual connection across the campaign. Since Focus Camera's Instagram feed features a wide variety of photography, I wanted the contest graphics to have a recognizable look that followers could easily associate with Scenes Through Sony. The consistent color treatment helped distinguish the campaign from regular social media content while allowing each design to stand on its own.
Bringing the
Photo Walks to Life
As part of the marketing team, I contributed ideas to maintain social media engagement throughout the Scenes Through Sony Photo Contest. One way we kept participants interested was through photo walks that offered additional opportunities to enter and win prizes. Attendees also had the chance to photograph models, experiment with professional lighting equipment, and receive tips from professional photographers. My role was to develop the promotional designs for these events, carrying the campaign's visual direction into the photo walk materials.
Each photo walk gave participants the opportunity to explore different locations and take photographs for the contest categories. Locations included Bryant Park and Times Square, Central Park, Robert F. Wagner Jr. Park, and Jane’s Carousel in Brooklyn Bridge Park.
Designed the Eventbrite headers for all Focus Camera photo walks created around the Scenes Through Sony Photo Contest, carrying the campaign’s visual direction across each event.
Wearing the Campaign
To build excitement around the contest, I designed a limited edition Scenes Through Sony T-shirt featuring a retro inspired camera character with a playful, vintage cartoon style. I wanted to create something fun and collectible that attendees would enjoy wearing beyond the event. With the photo walks coming to an end, I had to complete the design quickly, with only one day to develop the artwork. I used Adobe Firefly to explore the initial concepts and Illustrator to refine and customize the final design. The shirts were offered to the first 12–15 attendees to arrive at the Week 3 and 4 photo walks and were well received.
Driving Engagement
Throughout the contest, we used social media to promote the photo walks, encourage participation, and drive traffic to Focus Camera's website and event pages. The campaign also saw an increase in Instagram followers. Over a three-week period, Instagram bio clicks increased from 100 to 177, a 77% increase, with the click rate reaching 24% in Week 3.
77%
Increase in Instagram Bio Clicks
Beyond the Design
This project gave me the opportunity to be involved in both the creative and marketing sides of a campaign. I actively participated in brainstorming sessions, contributed marketing ideas and solutions to keep audiences engaged, and developed designs across digital platforms and live events. What I enjoyed most was seeing those ideas come to life beyond the screen and become part of an experience people could participate in.
Credits:
Art Direction + Design: JOANNA MONTANO
IN-HOUSE Photographer: Jonathan Carrillo