An integral part of my role at Etsy was developing design direction for video. Etsy saw it as a nascent opportunity to reach sellers with new educational content.

This was especially true for the Trend Report series, which used insights from Etsy’s marketplace to inform sellers of the latest seasonal trends on the platform. With this as a briefing, and the desire to celebrate vintage sellers in particular, I pitched, concepted, and directed a spot with the theme of Nostalgia.

Inspired by the old daytime game shows of my youth, I wanted to balance a focus on highlighting Etsy insights with an equal sense of camp and vintage dazzle — much like the items themselves.

dp: leif huron

prop styling: astrid chastka

creative DIRECTOR (ETSY): haelim paek

production (ETSY): ankur ghosh

content (ETSY): Audrey Manning

Inspired by Etsy’s seasonal Trend Reports, this project was an exploration in pushing the existing brand, celebrating seller merchandise, and creating an engaging piece of content beyond the previous format of the report (a PDF document).

Produced in close collaboration with Etsy’s internal content and merch teams, I worked with variety of hand-chosen and vetted merchandise.

Eventually, I decided on a direction that segmented looks into three scenes, all of which also functioned as separate cutdowns. Each had it’s own distinct set, feel, and palette, envisioning a magical world and story for every item.

From there, I worked to envision this piece through extensive brief writing, moodboarding, and storyboarding while in close collaboration with an internal copywriter. In particular, I wanted to tease the aesthetics of old television game shows (especially The Price Is Right) through texture, soft tones, lighting effects, camera transitions, and extending Etsy’s brand typography.

Collaborating further with prop stylist Astrid Chastka and DP Leif Huron, we fleshed out each world in a way that complemented the unique merchandise, extenuated visual play, and left room for useful trend-based content for sellers.

Shot with custom-built props, textures, fabrics, and sets in less than a day, each scene allowed for plenty of improvisation on set.

Ultimately, the finished video went to to sellers through Etsy’s owned and paid channels, as both a full piece and separate cutdowns celebrating each area of vintage merchandise.