Lawrence is the co creative director for a local St. Augustine surf shop. His roles include: writer, actor, director, video editor, social media strategist, and creative director for the brands Instagram page. During his time there, the social media following has amassed over 19k followers (4,500 in July of 2022), largely due to Lawrence and his partner Chris’s skit comedy Instagram Reels. He works to identify brand truths within the culture of surfing and then creates unique and original content.

Mangrove Surf Shop

Focus

Lawrence’s focus when creating these pieces is relatability, comedy, and engagement. His specific editing and sound design style is implemented to create the funniest and most engaging asset possible. Something as simple as the squawk of a seagull has been used several time across the pieces to give the habitual viewer something to recognize and engage with in the comments. This is not by accident.

On Set

When directing himself and his co star, Lawrence is precise yet flexible. He takes the time to experiment with different angles, framing, and delivery of lines on the fly as to have ample stock when editing. This flexibility allows the piece to be bound less by the script, and more by what is best to convey the message and engage with the audience. Sometimes, this is an accident, albeit a beautiful one.

Audience

The fan base of MangroveSurf is indicative of its brand identity. Family friendly, goofy, and wholesome brand guidelines identified by the team have made for a consistent and recognizable product, yet it never stagnates, and never underperforms its expectations. This is met by the audience with adoration, often seeing a flurry of comments made by those who look forward to the posts made every Friday.

Strategy

In the infancy of MangroveSurf, Lawrence recognized a need from the audience for more content. Successfully navigating the limitations of his team’s schedule while continuing to supply content, was a challenging balance to strike. Thus came the simple, yet effective strategy of posting every Friday. This proved to engage the audience in an entirely new way. What they found in the comments of each post, was a response akin to a favorite television show, they looked forward to every Friday at 9:30 for new content. A simple strategy, proved highly effective.