Case ― Stars and Stripes

Working with a national chain of restaurants is something we've been hoping to do for a long time. In 2017 we began doing just that when we started the transformation of one of the most interesting brands in the business - Stars and Stripes.

Stars and Stripes is an American-inspired chain of restaurants where people come to eat, drink and socialize in an environment that oozes of a homely feeling. Apart from serving tasty food and drinks, a lot of emphasize is on a friendly and personal service where staff almost know name of each guest. All with the ambition to create a sense of hanging with your friends and family despite being in a restaurant – making guests stay longer and come back night after night. On the walls, local sports heroes are celebrated and if you want to, you can always view the big games in sport being broadcasted all around.

When first established in 2010, Stars and Stripes focused almost everything on two things – TV-sports and hamburgers. And up until the autumn of 2017 that was truly what the proposition and all communication was about – regardless of where in Sweden you came. Milou quite quickly came, together with Stars and Stripes, to the conclusion that “Sports bar” wasn’t a position that neither should or could deliver the desired experience and success going forward. Something had to be done. Something that with power supported the ambition and high expectations the franchise had defined for the years to come. And in order to meet this ambition, Milou together with owners as well as franchisees, in the autumn of 2017 initiated the huge job of transforming the brand and communication of the whole chain of restaurants.

A change as big as this takes time – and during 2018 we have, through different executions, piece by piece moved towards a stronger and better defined brand, communications strategy, concepts, channel choices and activation.

Most of the inspiration for the food served at Stars and Stripes came from across the Atlantic. Perhaps not articulated but when looking at what came out on the plates, it became rather obvious. And when going through the Swedish restaurant scene, we could see clearly that no one had really taken the broad and varied American food culture to their heart. Which for us meant letting it take center stage when building Stars and Stripes’ new position. And it was rather easy to get a total acceptance in the organization – all and everyone had a positive experience from and love for parts of (or the whole) the American food and drinks landscape. Building upon that love from the inside, letting it shine through, made it so much easier when starting to communicate it – “Love food Americana”.

Within the new position – “Love food Americana” – resided the three unique selling points Food, Drinks and Interior. Food and drinks is what is on offer, the interior is an extension to the feeling we want to convey. And as the interiors of Stars and Stripes is designed to create a warm and welcoming feeling, almost like a home away from home, the concept on which we should base our communication was given – “Welcome home to Stars”.

In addition to talk about Stars and Stripes’ position and base concept, we use the food philosophy, people in the organization, inspiration from elsewhere will share the communicative space with seasonal campaigns, promotions and more.

As part of the full scope of our delivery, we also revised the graphic identity and design direction for the franchise. Gradually, we’ve updated the color palette, typography, language and image style – all contributing to the Stars and Stripes we now see move forward into the future with confidence and strength.