Interview with Jessica Hughes, Managing Director of Viscul, USA

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Jessica Hughes

Jessica is both partner and managing director of Viscul, the go-to creative agency for retailers and producers. With more than a decade’s worth of experience, Jessica helps to craft campaigns driven by meaningful stories that connect with consumers and communities.


Viscul | Muse Awards

Interview with the 2019 Muse Creative Awards Winner - Jessica Hughes

1Tell us a bit about your business and what you do.
Our team—small, passionate, mighty talented—partners with each client on a personal level, brainstorming around a table or getting our hands dirty in the places where your brand lives and breathes. (A day that finds us deep in a cornfield is a good day.)

We tailor our services to your needs, strategizing and conceptualizing from scratch or plugging into existing marketing teams, but always with one goal: to deliver a customer relationship that lasts.
2Can you explain a bit about the winning work you entered into the 2019 Muse Awards, and why you chose to enter this project?
In 2018, Viscul created a series of videos highlighting three local growers who produce ingredients sold in Giant/Martin’s Food Stores. The goal was to illustrate how Giant/Martin’s supports local farms, their communities, and local economies, and to show consumers how quick delivery from farm to store to table enhances the quality of the products they buy.

It’s clear that our efforts motivated customers to shop and to purchase additional items. Seventy-four percent of customers found the local campaign to be extremely/very appealing, and 77% recalled the promotion without visual aid—the highest unaided campaign awareness ever achieved for our client. The peach, sweet corn, and apple content were top-performing social content in P7, P8, and P10, driving a lower-than-benchmark cost per click and averaging view times of up to 30 seconds. Overall, our content improved customer perception of the quality of local produce and of the quality, variety, and service provided by Giant/Martin stores.

We decided to enter this project as well as Lancaster Water Group’s brand identity into Muse because campaigns – whether branding or marketing – is where our team is able to be 100% collaborative with one another, making it not just an individual job, but rather a team effort.
3What was the biggest challenge with this project?
The biggest challenge with these projects is actually what makes them shine – the storytelling. Every image, word and video communicates that salt-of-the-earth love of farming that each of the featured farms exude.

They genuinely care about what they are growing and how it is impacting their community. It is up to us to condense that passion into a bite-sized pieces of content that resonate with the consumer.
4What are your top three (3) favorite things about our industry?
Collaboration, imagination, and the constant push to be better.
5What resources would you recommend to someone who wants to improve their skills in the creative industry?
Read, watch and review industry trends and highlights, but then put that away and use your most important tool – your imagination. I am constantly inspired by our team on Monday mornings when they talk about what they did on the weekend and how it makes them want to do something creative around that experience.
6What is your key to success? Any parting words of wisdom?
It is a team effort. Your team isn’t built upon one person, but rather the strength of team as a whole.


Winning Entries

Lancaster Water Groupe | 2019

Lancaster Water Group | Viscul | Muse Awards
After nearly 20 years without an updated brand presence and the next generation of the company taking leadership, Lancaster Water Group, an international water pump and treatment company... (read more)

Giant Food Stores: Local Campaign

Giant Food Stores Local Campaign | Viscul | Muse Awards
Looking to highlight their partnerships with local produce growers, Giant Food Stores tasked us with bringing a fresh perspective to their 2018 Local Campaign. In addition to... (read more)

Fresh Stories | 2019

Fresh Stories | Viscul | Muse Awards
In 2017 a Food Marketing Institute report cited that grocery customers desire “transparency that engages them, offering assurances of food safety, the pursuit of health and wellness... (read more)

Cancer Stories | 2019

Cancer Stories | Viscul | Muse Awards
With beneficiaries like, Dana Farber, Memorial Sloan Kettering, John Hopkins and The Children's Miracle Network, Our Family Foundation seeks to give back to the children of the local communities that it serves... (read more)

Buy Local | 2019

Buy Local | Viscul | Muse Awards
Ahold USA was looking to capture the stories of its local farm suppliers to combat the rising trend of farmer's markets with its customer base. In response, a series of videos for social media distribution... (read more)

Eleven Oaks | 2019

Eleven Oaks | Viscul | Muse Awards
Eleven Oaks is a wagyu farm start-up looking to target high-end restaurants and consumers. They tasked us with initial branding including logo, website, video, labels and print collateral. (read more)

Libre's Gift | 2019

Libre's Gift | Viscul | Muse Awards
Libre's Gift was formed to help pets who's owners can not afford their emergency medical care. We were tasked with creating the identity, website as well as apparel for fundraising efforts. (read more)

Viscul


With more than 10 years of experience as the go-to creative agency for retailers and producers, Viscul is dedicated to crafting meaningful stories that will transform the way you think of food and beverage.


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