Brand Manager,

SummerFall Sake

I joined as the first marketing hire to bring a new LA-based sparkling sake brand to life — leading digital, PR, influencer, and IRL activations to launch SummerFall into the world.

highlights

  1. Developed and executed our brand strategy in collaboration with Helena Price and Day Job.

  2. Created and launched our e-commerce platform, turning SummerFall into a brand with cross-country distribution.

  3. Strategized a viral TikTok content series, taking following from 0 to 500k+ in a couple months and landing us 20+ million likes.

  4. Negotiated and coordinated an influencer partnership with food & lifestyle couple @cabagges.world, also placing our products at their cookbook launch events in NYC and LA.

| CASE STUDY 01 |

sake updates

pre-launch strategy, e-mail marketing, design + copy

While our first run of cans was in production, I built SummerFall’s entire pre-launch email ecosystem — from strategy to design to copy. Working from Day Job’s initial brand identity, I crafted a high-impact funnel designed to convert early curiosity into first-week sales upon launch.

Targeted ads led to sign-ups, which triggered a visually rich email series introducing our brand, product, and universe. Each message blended education and design storytelling, culminating in an exclusive 30% offer that drove DTC trial and measurable sales velocity from day one.

SummerFall set out to introduce sake to a new generation of drinkers in the U.S. by reframing it as an everyday beverage, not a niche ritual. To bring that vision to life, I directed our first lifestyle shoot in a casual home setting — friends gathered, pizza on the table, and sake in hand. The result was a visual identity that made sake feel familiar, fun, and refreshingly unpretentious.

PHOTO: Soon Tani Beccaria Mochizuki

| CASE STUDY 02 |

sake for everyone

creative direction, photo production + editing

| CASE STUDY 03 |

water of the day

social media strategy, viral content series

before

With just myself, our content creator, and a hunch, we set out to make sake go viral. SummerFall needed credibility in the U.S. and we wanted to win over a younger, open-minded audience. We launched TikTok in April 2024 — by June, we hit our first million-view video. By year’s end, we’d grown to 500K followers and 20+ million likes.

The breakthrough came with our recurring “Water of the Day” series — absurd, simple, and endlessly remixable. Each video featured new “waters,” always ending with SummerFall. It became our signature format: short-form, self-aware, and perfectly built for the algorithm.

CONTENT CREATOR: Lala Shimizu

after

Our most-viewed video — 75M+ impressions — started as an accident on camera that we turned into a viral merch drop.

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