Starlandia
Applied creative facilitation and design conceptualization skills to enhance brand strategy and propose innovative solutions for the stationary brand
BRAND STRATEGY + FACILITATION
Role : Brand Strategist, Workshop Facilitator, Visual Designer
Date : Fall 2023
Team : Team of 2
Tools : Illustrator, Photoshop, Premier Pro, Miro, Powerpoint
Approach:
Diagnose
Define
Generate
Plan
Implement
Pitch
Starlandia, a stationery shop in Savannah, Georgia, faced challenges with its marketing strategy, leading to low customer engagement and ineffective outreach.
Problem
Despite its unique products, the shop struggled to effectively market itself and connect with both local and broader audiences.
The challenge was to enhance Starlandia’s marketing strategy by identifying and addressing gaps in current practices.
Challenge
This involved conducting workshops with the owners and team to develop more effective marketing tactics and improve overall customer engagement.
Proposed a tailored marketing strategy that included clearer messaging, targeted campaigns, and better use of digital channels.
Solution
Implemented the new strategy and evaluated its success through customer feedback and engagement metrics, making adjustments as needed to ensure effectiveness.
About Starlandia
Starlandia was opened to help artists and crafters save money by creating a store that traded in old supplies. It is visited by lot of SCAD and other college students to help their pockets by getting stationary on a budget. The owner, Clinton Edminster believes in the power of reuse and Starlandia processes over 20,000 pounds of art supplies every year.
Identifying Brand Attributes
Starlandia's Competitors
Competitor Analysis
We employed a Blue Ocean Strategy analysis to identify key opportunity areas: Price, Community Engagement, Branding, and Marketing. However, after reviewing client feedback, we strategically narrowed the focus. Price was excluded from the project's scope, and Branding was deprioritized. As a result, the project centered on enhancing Community Engagement and refining Marketing strategies, driving the direction of our efforts.
Brand Diagnostics Workshop Plan
Workshop Overview
The brand diagnostics workshop provided a clear understanding of Starlandia’s current state, revealing deeper issues in critical areas. By gathering key insights, we identified actionable opportunities to improve brand performance and alignment with the target audience. This informed the creation of a focused opportunity statement, guiding our strategic direction.
This workshop was conducted with the brand owner, Clinton and the head of marketing and strategy, Sam. The facilitators, my team mate and myself enabled a collaborative exploration of challenges and opportunities with the non-designer clients.
Workshop Findings
1. Dreams and Nightmares - Initial Expectations and Concerns
Diversifying the target audience
2. Brand DNA - Brand Message Communication
Re-connecting to what Starlandia is!
3. Gains, Pains, Questions, Ideas - Gauging the Status
Emphasizing on Art and making it the driver of the messaging
4. Start, Stop, Continue - Identifying Areas that can be Improved
Making social media the communication channel
5. Competitor Landscape - Positioning Starlandia with its Competitors
Highlighting Starlandia's brand values
6. Strategic Action Plan - Reaching Strategic Objective
Target promoting local artists and their art in the city
7. Opportunity Statement - Prioritizing a Specific Problem Area
By advocating for Art
8. Golden Circle - Defining the Workshop Outcomes
To Conclude Brand Diagnostics Workshop
Co-creation Workshop Plan
Workshop Overview
The co-creation workshop for Starlandia was about collaboratively generating innovative ideas and solutions. My teammate and I facilitated this session, fostering an environment where Clinton, Starlandia's owner could actively participate in the creative process.
The workshop led to the development of actionable strategies that aligned with the brand’s vision and customer needs, reinforcing our strategic direction and ensuring the solutions were both practical and impactful.
Workshop Findings
1. Peak and Valley Warmup - The Journey So Far and Historical Timeline
Starlandia’s audience responds well to marketing
2. Gap Fill Exercise - Getting background, values and ideas to specific pain points
Keeping Artists at the forefront
3. Lotus Blossom - Getting into details for each idea
Unfiltered brainstormed Ideas
4. Impact vs Effort - Prioritizing the Brainstormed Ideas
Filtering Ideas through Impact and Effort
5. Value Bullseye - Aligning Core Values with Strategic Goals
Reconnecting
with Starlandia's Values
6. Value Proposition Canvas - Testing the Values
Checking if the ideas align with the values
7. Purpose Statement - Validating the Purpose
Redefining the purpose
A Quick Recap
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Final Concepts at Planning Stage
Art Spotlight
These series of Instagram Stories are designed as examples or mock-ups of the overall messaging and objective of “ArtSpotlight”. The designs can be developed further while incorporating elaborating multi-media marketing tools.
Green Canvas
The proposed billboard designs give a broader design and brand message idea of what the billboards can look like. The designs can be developed further while adding some more powerful brand messaging aspects.
Art Fiesta
Art Fiesta is a dynamic marketing campaign by Starlandia that fosters community engagement through interactive art experiences and sustainable creativity. By hosting events like community art walls, recycled art contests, and eco-art workshops, the campaign strengthens connections between local artists, customers, and the broader Starlandia community, while promoting sustainability and artistic collaboration.
Takeaways
Enhanced Facilitation Skills
Creative Problem-Solving
Strategic Insight Development
Visual Design Alignment with Brand Identity
Client Collaboration
Audience-Centric Marketing