Chiara Merullo, Marketing Expert in London, United Kingdom
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Chiara Merullo

Bio

Chiara is a senior brand and growth strategist with 15 years of experience leading go-to-market and launch strategy for high-profile consumer and luxury brands. She was named an industry Rising Star and has led growth programs and omnichannel campaigns for global brands including Gucci, Harvey Nichols, and Expedia. Chiara specializes in positioning, buyer personas, and messaging frameworks that turn customer insight into commercially grounded go-to-market and growth strategies.

Project Highlights

Expertise

  • Brand Positioning
  • Content Marketing Strategy
  • Launch Strategy
  • Messaging
  • Omnichannel Campaign
  • Pitch Decks
  • Repositioning
  • SEO Tools

Work Experience

Independent Brand and Growth Consultant

2020 - PRESENT
Freelance Clients
  • Led brand refresh and positioning programs for international consumer and luxury brands, delivering brand systems and tone of voice frameworks for global rollout.
  • Managed go-to-market and launch strategy for new products and digital platforms, owning messaging architecture, website structure, and launch sequencing from concept to live.
  • Delivered fractional brand and content leadership for in-house teams, defining editorial direction, operating models, and omnichannel campaign frameworks.
  • Partnered with founders and senior stakeholders to translate customer and market insight into commercially grounded growth and communications strategy.

Global Content Lead

2023 - 2023
Gucci
  • Led cross-regional creative and marketing teams through a period of leadership change, stabilizing global messaging and delivery while maintaining strict brand and creative standards.
  • Owned global womenswear, menswear, and beauty CRM copy, resolving cultural and market-specific challenges to optimize subject lines, messaging, and storytelling across international markets during organizational transition.
  • Delivered creative and commercial social copy for Gucci Beauty's global Instagram channel (4+ million followers), safeguarding brand voice, accuracy, and luxury standards.
  • Handled omnichannel campaign copy for strategic brand partnerships, including the global Gucci x Adidas collaboration, ensuring alignment with brand, commercial, and market requirements.

Content Lead and Senior Beauty Editor

2012 - 2020
Harvey Nichols
  • Led brand positioning and content strategy across womenswear, menswear, and food and wine, aligning brand, commercial, and growth priorities.
  • Built and delivered an SEO-led editorial and acquisition strategy, driving multiple top-three organic rankings.
  • Managed the content and launch strategy for Fenty Beauty at Harvey Nichols, delivering one of the retailer's most commercially successful brand launches.
  • Led digital, influencer, and performance-led content campaigns, delivering measurable revenue uplift.
  • Developed and delivered client pitch presentations and content proposals to support new business wins, brand partnerships, and commercial exclusives.

Freelance Writer

2011 - 2012
Vogue
  • Delivered feature and digital content for leading fashion titles, including Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, InStyle, and Grazia, strengthening brand authority and audience engagement across print and online platforms.
  • Contributed to a 200% increase in traffic during a key digital growth initiative at Grazia by producing audience-led, performance-informed editorial content.
  • Led the creative direction and execution of still-life beauty shoots, ensuring assets aligned with brand positioning and commercial objectives.

Project History

Gucci Global Content

http://www.chiaramerullo.com/work/gucci-portfolio
  • 6 — Global Campaign Launches
  • 4+ Million — Audience Reach

I stabilized and evolved Gucci’s global brand voice during a period of leadership transition, enabling consistent, culturally relevant campaign delivery across markets and supporting engagement across a global audience of 4+ million Gucci Beauty followers.

I assessed the impact of leadership and creative transition on Gucci’s global tone of voice, auditing email, CRM, and campaign messaging across markets. I then defined a concise, high-clarity messaging framework designed to work within strict brand-safety and language constraints at scale. I partnered with global creative and regional teams to localize messaging and enable rapid multi-market campaign delivery. I also implemented a repeatable approval and localization workflow to support scalable global rollout.

I increased engagement and click-through rates across Gucci’s global email program during a period of leadership transition, while maintaining brand safety, consistency, and delivery at scale.

Launch of Fenty Beauty

  • 8% — Increase in Total Harvey Nichols Annual Profits
  • 4 — Channels Delivered (Social, Email, Digital Editorial, In-store)

Harvey Nichols’ core audience was not typically drawn to celebrity-led beauty brands. At the same time, the Fenty launch was governed by strict global brand and language guidelines, leaving limited flexibility to localize or reposition the story for the UK market.

I developed a dual-track launch strategy that balanced a precise, globally aligned product narrative with a locally relevant UK brand story. I reframed the launch around inclusivity and product performance rather than celebrity, using hero storytelling to reposition relevance for the Harvey Nichols customer.

I led messaging architecture and content delivery across digital editorial, email, and in-store communications to ensure consistent execution at launch. I also aligned internal teams and stakeholders around launch priorities, sequencing, and campaign delivery.

In the UK, Fenty Beauty became Harvey Nichols’ biggest beauty launch ever, with products selling at a rate of one unit per minute. This helped drive a 17% increase in LVMH’s cosmetic and perfume sales during the launch quarter.

Launch of Gatte

https://gattetreats.com/

The challenge was to define a compelling brand and positioning for launch that would resonate with the target audience’s real motivations, while translating complex behavioral science into simple, emotionally engaging messaging that neither alienated nor over-educated consumers.

I defined the brand positioning, narrative, and tone of voice from behavioral insight to create a distinctive and emotionally resonant brand platform. I also translated complex behavioral science into clear, benefit-led messaging aligned to audience motivations and purchase drivers. I built the full brand system for launch, including tone-of-voice guidelines, SEO-led product naming, and messaging architecture. Additionally, the project involved leading website messaging structure and UX content flow to support clarity, engagement, and conversion at launch.

I defined a commercially differentiated brand and positioning that enabled Gatte’s market entry and supported partner activations with QVC and TSC, leading an ongoing retained engagement to support growth and future launches.

Education

2005 - 2008

Bachelor's Degree in Sociology

University of Bristol - Bristol, England

Certifications

APRIL 2026 - PRESENT

AWS Certified AI Practitioner (AIF-C01)

AWS

SEPTEMBER 2023 - PRESENT

Semrush SEO Course

Semrush

OCTOBER 2018 - PRESENT

Jellyfish SEO and Google Analytics

Jellyfish

Skills

Core

Content Marketing Strategy, Omnichannel Marketing, Brand Strategy, Audience Targeting, Audience Engagement, Repositioning, Content Strategy, Copywriting, Branding, Email Marketing, Marketing Strategy, Content Creation, Brand Marketing, Content Marketing, Customer Segmentation, SEO Audits, Social Media Content, Social Media Marketing (SMM), Marketing Analytics, Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO), SEO Tools, Local SEO, Go-to-market (GTM) Strategies, Product Marketing, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Influencer Marketing, Digital Marketing, LinkedIn Marketing, Pinterest, Digital Marketing Strategy, Media Buying, SEO Content, Public Relations (PR), Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI)

Platforms & Tools

Google Analytics, Canva

Technical

Google Search Console

Other

Consumer Behavior, Strategic Planning, Editorial Process, Growth Strategy, Consumer Branding, Buyer Personas, Strategic Communication & Messaging, Launch Strategy, Omnichannel Campaign, Messaging, Pitch Decks, Brand Positioning, Editorial Direction, Tone of Voice, Brand Architecture, Editorial Content, Value Proposition, Storytelling, Luxury Goods, Luxury Industry, Content Writing, Editorials, Social Media Content Writing, Fashion, Blogs, 360 Campaigns, Creative Strategy, Creative Thinking, Psychology, Behavioral Economics, Audience Analysis, Audience Segmentation, Cultural Sensitivity, Qualitative Research, Shopify, WordPress, Microsoft Teams, Google Slides, Complex Problem Solving, Creative Problem Solving, CRM Implementation, Growth Marketing, Loyalty Programs/CRM, SEO with AI, Seos, SEO Writing, Go-to-market Execution, Audits, Web UX, SEO Copywriting, eCommerce, Semrush, UX Writing, Advertising, Sales Enablement, Customer Acquisition, Health, Fitness, Startups, Thought Leadership, Ghostwriting, Organic Content Marketing, Newsletters, Website Optimization, Email Marketing Strategy, Ad Optimization, Customer Research, User Research, Email Optimization, print writing, Editorial excellence, Writing, AI Agents, Prompt Engineering, Machine Learning, Foundation Models and LLMs, ai security and governance, business value, Workflow Automation & System Integration, Responsible AI, data concepts

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