Project Overview
Sage Sleep™ is a small, woman-owned business founded by Brandy Alvis that focuses on creating hand-crafted, organic bedding products. Located in Auburn, California, the company strives for creating a safer and happier sleeping environment by providing specialized pillows that are customized to each individual and relying heavily on sustainability. They are aware of the dangers of toxic materials that are often used by larger corporations in their products, so they have turned to a more eco-friendly solution! Since they are a small company, they needed help with expanding their brand which is why this rebrand was initiated. This case study entails all the research components and elements that went into creating this rebrand. The final creative solution included a suite of cross-channel deliverables—ensuring brand consistency across each touchpoint. This included retail-focused email layouts (welcome sequences, product promotions, flash sales, follow-up emails, announcements, etc.), digital banners, website navigation redesign, social media content, package inserts, and seasonal promotion campaigns.
SOFTWARE: Adobe Illustrator, Adobe InDesign, Canva, Procreate, Shopify
DELIVERABLES: Visual Brand Identity, Brand Strategy, Digital Marketing, UI/UX Design, Print/Digital Collateral
DELIVERABLES: Visual Brand Identity, Brand Strategy, Digital Marketing, UI/UX Design, Print/Digital Collateral
Discovery & Research
Before joining the team, I noticed there was a lack of consistency with their brand since it has been messed around with time and time again. This was apparent in their social media ads which showed different visual styles and made it difficult to recognize them. This interfered with their vision for the company because they wanted to focus on their story: people who are passionate about the environment and creating a more sustainable future. In addition, they also needed help with creating content to expand their business reach and whom to focus on. With all this in mind, I narrowed it down to these 4 key points:
Brand Strategy
We focused our research primarily on the environmental factor—what goes into making our products and how can we show more of that? By providing an entirely new marketing strategy, we have turned our attention to educating our customers on the health and wellness benefits. They are anti-microbial, animal cruelty free, eco-friendly, and hypo-allergenic. Our pillows are 100% customizable, made from a wide selection of organic materials, and can cater to different needs such as sleeping positions and temperature regulation. They also have a longer duration period than most companies and are G.O.T.S. certified. We believe that implementing this marketing strategy can help empower our customers because they are more aware of what they are buying. Ideally, this would appear in our advertisements and hopefully gain a more engaged audience.
Ideal Audience
Through our research, we looked into our target audience. Who is this company for and how can we learn more about them? We looked into the demographics that would most likely appeal to our company and eventually came up with what we call L.O.H.A.S (Lifestyle of Health and Sustainability). This ideal audience is a market segment that tends to focus more on health and fitness, the environment, personal development, and has an interest for sustainable living and social justice. To understand our audience, we created some user personas of ideal customers.
New Brand Vision
Now that we gathered our information, it's important that we start thinking of visuals to help bring this brand personality to life. Below shows a mood board I created to help establish the "look" and "feel" of the rebrand. The goal for this was to capture the essence of a clean relaxing, and cultivated atmosphere. I was mainly inspired by the bohemian aesthetic which is where most of these photos stem from. It consists of neutral colors, organic shapes, plant imagery, Mother Earth, and existing Sage Sleep™ photos. This is what later inspired me to create the brand vision, mission statement, descriptive key words, and core values.
Note: These photos are courtesy of Sage Sleep™. These were just used for inspiration and reference.
Website Navigation Redesign
Official Brand Booklet & Elements
Digital & Print Application
A series of guidelines was created to show how this rebrand can be implemented in creating promotional material for the company. Using the approved brand elements will help maintain consistency and build our brand identity. Furthermore, this will help the marketing team produce more specific-oriented ads and figure out what kind of content to put out there. These can be seen through a range of digital materials (email campaigns, banners, social media content, e-booklets) and print materials (pillow packaging inserts, thank you cards, postcards, pamphlets, packaging).
Email Design & Banners
Social Media & Digital Marketing
Client Reviews – Compilation Reel
Client Video Testimonials – Compilation Reel
Huge Weekend Sale Promotion – Compilation Reel
Early Black Friday Sale – Reel
Huge Weekend Sale Promotion – IG Story
Early Black Friday Sale – IG Story
Fall into Bed Promotion Sale – IG Story
Fall into Bed Promotion Sale – IG Story
E-Booklet Samples
Print Collateral & Packaging
Disclaimer: I have been given permission to share this project for viewing purposes. It is not meant to be redistributed.