TL;DR
For my Ad Media course project, my team, Crimson & Canter, built a year-long media plan for Ralph Lauren (Both Brand and Fragrance) for 2027. Working on the brand team, I created our persona Eleanor, worked on the budget, pulled the index numbers that backed up our story, and pitched two of our biggest ideas: LAFC and the marathons. We placed first overall in the class.
This was a class project, not client work. Our professor, Jim Helberg, gave us real industry data to work with, but no one at Ralph Lauren was involved or saw the plan.
1st
Overall in our class
107
Slides in our brand plan
1 Hour
Total presentation length
The Brief
Ralph Lauren wanted 20% year-over-year share-of-market growth across e-commerce, full-price retail and outlets, and a brand that feels relevant to Gen Z without losing its heritage. We targeted purchasers of Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger, Banana Republic and Express aged 18–54, with a skew toward Black/African American and Hispanic consumers.
My Role
Nine of us worked on the plan, led by Rachel Bradburry. My parts:
- Created Eleanor, one of our four personas for brand
- Worked on the base and incremental budgets
- Contributed research and pulled the index numbers that fit our story
- Pitched LAFC and the marathons as partnership ideas
Eleanor
Eleanor isn't real, but everything about her is. I built her from our index data first: 63, New York City, a project manager with center-orchestra seats on Broadway, high-end magazines on the table, and no patience for participation trophies. Then I used Gemini to help find her voice, asking what someone with those numbers would actually say. Every detail stays tied to a real index, so lines like 'I'll admit I'm trendy (137)' are funny and defensible at the same time. As my teammate Abigail put it: "We all know her, and we all FEAR her."
The Numbers
Most of the plan rested on index numbers, where 100 is the national average. I helped with research and sifted through the indexes that fit our story: which media our audience used most heavily, and which sports, events and outlets over-indexed for our Black/African American and Hispanic skews. That kept every recommendation tied to who we were actually trying to reach.
Big Ideas
Two ideas I brought to the team were LAFC and the marathons, and the numbers backed them both up. The MLS indexed at 225 for all consumers, and LAFC is in Los Angles, CA, one of our Designated Market Areas, so I decided to pitch LAFC as a partnership. The New York City and Boston Marathons indexed highly as well, and gave Ralph Lauren a way to show up in moments people already care about, from the start-line arch to the finisher medal.
Budget
I also worked on and presented the budget, along side Briana England, splitting it into a base plan and an incremental plan. In the base budget, official partnerships took the largest share at 31.3%, ahead of national TV at 25%, which reflected how much of our strategy ran through sports and events. In the incremental budget, national TV led at 34%. Spend was weighted toward January–March, which took 46.34% of the year, but that is because most of our offical partnerships for the whole year are paid out in the first quarter.
Results
Crimson & Canter placed first overall in the class. If I take one thing away from this project, it's that iconic brands show up in iconic places. It also showed me that a persona is only as strong as the data behind it: Eleanor worked because every joke had a number attached.
"You're right about one thing, Thomas: iconic brands do show up in iconic places. Usually, that place is my closet, not a classroom. But for Ralph, I'll make a rare academic exception."
