Fashion
I _____ in #mycalvins
Architecting the earned media strategy and PR launch of Netflix Originals — the announcement that changed how the world watches television
$100M+
Reported value of the House of Cards deal
592.8M
Social engagements Jan 2016–Jan 2018
145K+
Retweets from a single Bieber post
$3.1B
Brand revenue, FY 2016
Calvin Klein (PVH Corp.)
Senior Communications & Campaign Leader, Calvin Klein
Global influencer strategy & execution, owned/organic social architecture, talent relations & negotiations, behind-the-scenes content, earned media, crisis management, legal partnership. Brand & Corp Comms: PVH investor-facing brand narrative, internal communications & org alignment, trade & retail partner communications, executive visibility & spokesperson strategy.
2015–2018
2010
Netflix account engagement begins — ID PR brought on as agency of record as Netflix navigates the transition from DVD-by-mail to streaming platform and eyes a new chapter.
Mar 2011
Netflix Originals announcement — House of Cards deal breaks in Deadline as an exclusive. A streaming service outbids HBO and AMC for prestige content. Industry coverage is immediate and global.
2011
First-wave originals pipeline publicized — Lilyhammer, House of Cards, Orange is the New Black, and others announced and positioned in press as a coherent originals strategy, not isolated acquisitions.
Feb 2012
Lilyhammer premieres — the first Netflix Original to stream. Feb 6, 2012. All-episode binge model introduced. Press coverage frames it as the beginning of a new era in television.
2012
Orange is the New Black greenlit — Jenji Kohan's series commissioned. Early earned media groundwork laid as part of the sustained originals narrative being built in press.
Feb 2013
House of Cards S1 drops — 9 Emmy nominations. Netflix stock jumps 70% in the week prior. The PR infrastructure built over two years absorbs the moment and extends it.
Reimagining a hashtag as an inclusive pop culture movement
#mycalvins launched before I arrived at Calvin Klein. The possessive hashtag and the campaign's foundational concept were already in market — and already generating cultural momentum. What I inherited was a strong idea that needed the infrastructure to scale: a global influencer program with strategic intent behind it, an owned social strategy with a distinct point of view, talent relations built on real relationships rather than transactional bookings, and a communications function that could hold the corporate and creative narratives in alignment simultaneously. I joined as the Bieber era was beginning. I was still there for the Kardashian-Jenner culmination. What happened in between is the case study.
Managing a campaign that lived at the intersection of culture, commerce, and crisis
The structural challenge of #mycalvins was that its power came from its openness — anyone could participate, the brand didn't control what people posted, and the campaign's credibility depended on that authenticity. But openness at that scale creates exposure. A single wrong talent move, a controversy with a campaign partner, or a misread cultural moment could unwind years of brand equity. We managed that tension constantly — building a talent roster with enough range to feel genuinely inclusive while maintaining the brand's luxury positioning, and developing the crisis protocols that would be tested, and hold, in May 2016.
Building the infrastructure behind the hashtag
The work happened on four tracks simultaneously. Track one: influencer strategy — moving from reactive talent bookings to a proactive ecosystem with a casting logic, relationship infrastructure, and a pipeline that connected influencer partners to campaign shoots, runway shows, and global events. Track two: owned social — developing a brand voice and content system that could live alongside the campaign without competing with it. Track three: earned media — translating influencer moments into press coverage across fashion, entertainment, and culture verticals. Track four: corporate communications — managing the brand narrative for PVH's investor audience, retail partners, and internal organization through the Raf Simons transition and everything that came with it.
The campaign outlasted every trend cycle it touched
884,000 Instagram posts tagged #mycalvins. 592.8 million social engagements across two years. 145,000 retweets from a single Justin Bieber post. The Kardashian-Jenner campaign in January 2018 became one of the most-covered pop culture moments of early 2018 — global press across fashion, entertainment, and news. The May 2016 crisis was contained. No retraction. Campaign performance unaffected. The story receded within weeks. Brand revenue hit $3.1 billion in FY2016. The campaign ran for years after I left. That's the measure.
The announcement that satisfies the algorithm is never the one that changes the conversation.
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