The Midsommar Edit
How We Turned a Summer Bucket List into a Collaborative Brand Campaign
When we created our summer bucket list, adding real marketing goals felt daunting. A part of me was nervous to share the list on social media because it made everything official. If we didn’t accomplish those goals, it felt like we would have failed. But that’s exactly the thing I learned throughout this process: you can’t create or achieve the things you want without putting them out there and letting people know what you’re working toward.
We added “work with a local coffee shop on a drink”, “design Midsommar merch with The Door Stop”, and “collab with a local business” with no real vision of what that would look like.
As the three of us began introducing both the Midsommar Girls program and ourselves as individuals to the Door County community, we grew more comfortable building relationships and initiating conversations about potential collaborations. What started as our go-to spot for coffee before work or a quick Wi-Fi connection soon became part of our story. From the beginning, we admired Happy Coffee’s standout logo, fun and trending flavors, and strong social media presence. And then, when we met the owners, Juan and Lily, they were genuinely interested in our work and the pop-ups happening around the community. I especially appreciated Lily’s passion for recipe and flavor development. It became clear that we had an authentic partner to bring this to life.
For our Midsommar merch collaboration with The Door Stop, we considered trends among young tourists in Door County alongside the store’s established best sellers. We also had to work within our suppliers’ capabilities and narrow our many ideas down to one final design. We want to give a huge thank you to Marit, Midsommar Girls leader and owner of The Door Stop, for trusting us and piecing our ideas together. The design includes The Big Dipper, signifying the internship program that has changed the trajectory of all of our lives, and an outline of the Baileys Harbor lower range lighthouse, which points to a place we will always call home.
Rolling out this partnership strategically on social media was really important to us. We decided to dedicate Labor Day Weekend to the collaboration to see the best results. We created suspense around the flavor and design with cropped stories and sneak peeks. Followed by a collaborative giveaway post that increased our following by over 200 followers and reached 23.4k views.
When the weekend came, we were over the moon excited. We watched as friends, family, and followers tried the latte flavor and shopped at The Door Stop. It was surreal to witness women come into the store and recognize the sweatshirt design from social media. I personally loved telling the story of the piece to each customer! What a rewarding and learning experience it was, and I could not be more grateful to have been a part of the process from start to finish!
Written by Kate Adler
