Overview
TOMS was still early. Fewer than sixty thousand pairs given. The mission was clear and the digital footprint was still forming. My work focused on the foundation: UX templates, SEO structures, and the first scalable version of their social engagement engine.
TOMS was moving fast. The one-for-one model was gaining national attention, and celebrities were wearing the shoes everywhere. Traffic came from entertainment blogs, early social platforms, and fast-rising cultural moments. The brand needed Performance Optimization and Mobile-first templates that could hold that sudden attention without breaking.
Early Challenge
The digital ecosystem wasn’t built for scale. Every campaign was a rebuild. Every celebrity moment needed a new landing page. The team called these pages feeder sites. They were small, SEO-focused structures built around celebrity photographs, product mentions, and quick social spikes.
The problem was consistency. Nothing matched. None of it reused. This limited SEO Architecture, slowed the team, and cut into campaign velocity.
Approach
I treated everything like an early design system.
System Design. Content Structure. Visual Identity. A repeatable set of templates that improved performance, worked well on mobile, and could be launched in a fraction of the time.
SEO Architecture and Backlink Strategy shaped the backbone. Each template strengthened domain authority by connecting celebrity-driven landers, seasonal stories, and product pages into a single search ecosystem. This turned scattered attention into real, compounding search value.
Discovery and Identity Development guided the language. Brand Messaging kept every piece aligned with Blake’s original tone, which helped keep the momentum authentic rather than transactional.
Celebrity Integration
The celebrity angle was real leverage. We designed layouts that held strong photography, quick storytelling, and clean paths to product lines. The mix of Mobile-first templates and Performance Optimization meant pages loaded fast even when traffic spiked from entertainment sites.
Those choices drove a measurable lift. Campaigns launched faster. Users moved deeper into the product flow. Traffic bounced less and converted more.
Key Initiatives
Built a reusable system of Mobile-first templates that improved load speed and reduced dev effort
Created SEO Architecture that unified campaign pages, celebrity landers, and core product lines
Developed Backlink Strategy to strengthen domain authority through entertainment and partner sites
Improved Performance Optimization across seasonal pages and high-traffic spikes
Designed early System Design patterns for repeatable campaign and commerce workflows
Established Content Structure to streamline storytelling and product alignment
Tightened Identity Development and Brand Messaging for consistent output across channels
Key Results
22% conversion lift
46% social retention lift
Faster launches through reusable templates
Higher domain authority from backlink strategy
Improved mobile performance and stronger search ranking
Scalable structure that supported early high-growth expansion
The Impact
TOMS needed digital infrastructure that could keep pace with cultural momentum. The work created that foundation. It connected brand identity, early SEO strategy, and fast-moving celebrity traffic into a unified, scalable system that helped push digital commerce past one hundred million.
Role
UX and Digital Strategy Consultant, partnering with the Senior Director of E-commerce to build templates, systems, SEO frameworks, and social retention structures during the company’s early expansion.
