Roomi
A shared living tech start-up that took over NYC with a series of impactful and original advertising campaigns.
Original illustration by Mag Ruhig
Implemented
2016-2018
Collaborators
Mag Ruhig (Illustration)
Carli Evilsizer (Brand)
Christine Cannon (Design)
Matt Engel (Copy)
Categories
Graphic Design
Advertising
Brand Strategy
Growth Marketing
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I worked at Roomi for 3.5 years as an in-house marketer and designer. I’ll bullet point the series of events that let me to play a role in my favorite Roomi project: the subway advertising campaigns.
• I started working at Roomi in June 2015 as a Marketing intern.
• Fell in love with the start-up culture and the product we were building (I was an actual Roomi user).
• I started managing our grassroots marketing team, and filling in gaps wherever possible.
• My role transitioned onto operations, where I set-up our listings teams, safety protocols and explored growth strategies.
• At the end of 2016, Roomi made its first big media buy, a single subway banner ad. Wow! What an incredible opportunity to uniquely position our company!
• I met with my coworker at the time and now best friend, Patou Saubusse. We talked and laughed about what living with roommates is like, and especially, why it’s a great thing. This is where our first ad campaign idea came from: “Find a roommate who…”
• One problem. How do we bring this to life? I contacted the only illustrator I knew at the time, Mag Ruhig, an exceptionally talented designer based in Paraguay. She is the creator of ALL Roomi characters and always had a way of blowing my mind with her humor and creativity.
• We pitched the idea and our team loved and went with it.
• After the success of this campaign, we bought more media space over the course of the next two years to expand our brand awareness.
• Not knowing how to make basic changes in some of the illustrations frustrated me so I taught myself all things Adobe and later on studied design at Shillington for a year while working full-time. 2018 was not a fun year, but was totally worth it— now I can design things myself.
• At Roomi, I discovered my ability to adapt, bring ideas to life, make people connect & improvise.
