Strack & Van Til was a trusted regional grocer, but changing consumer expectations were reshaping the conversation around value. The challenge wasn't simply lowering prices, it was making value easier to recognize while protecting the qualities that made the brand distinctive.

I led the creative direction for a brand repositioning that transformed value from a price message into a customer-centered experience built around a simple idea: Built Around You.

The Challenge

Changing the Conversation Around Value

As household budgets tightened, price became an increasingly important factor in where consumers chose to shop. For Strack & Van Til, the challenge wasn't simply offering competitive prices, it was making the value behind those prices easier to see, understand, and remember.

The opportunity was to reposition the family-owned grocer around value without making price the entire story. The brand needed to communicate that value was built into the entire experience, from products and pricing to service and connection with customers.

I led the creative direction for the repositioning, defining the visual language, messaging, and systems that carried the new positioning across retail, weekly advertising, television, radio, outdoor, photography, and digital.

The Opportunity

Make value easier to see.

Reposition Strack & Van Til as a grocer built around the needs of its customers.

Research & Strategic Direction

Understanding how shoppers define value

The repositioning was informed by competitive research and an understanding of how consumers were making grocery decisions as price became a greater consideration.

I looked at how competing grocers communicated price and promotions, how shoppers navigated different types of savings, and where the existing Strack & Van Til experience created opportunities for greater clarity.

The research pointed to an important opportunity, value needed to be communicated simply and consistently, without reducing the brand to price alone.

That led to a broader question, How could we make value easier to recognize while keeping the customer at the center of the brand?

The category had a communication problem, retailers were competing for attention with increasingly fragmented price messages.

The Big Idea

Built Around You.

I developed a new creative platform centered around a simple idea: Built Around You.

The positioning shifted value away from being only about price and toward the complete customer experience, from savings and selection to service and connection.

The idea became the foundation for how the brand communicated across every touchpoint: pricing, in-store signage, advertising, photography, and digital.

From a single shelf tag to the entire brand experience, every touchpoint reinforced the same promise.

A New Language of Value

Turning pricing strategy into a simple shopper experience.

With Built Around You established as the central idea, the next challenge was making value easier to recognize throughout the shopping experience.

I developed a visual pricing system where each type of value had its own symbol, color, and name, creating a consistent language that could work across shelf tags, signage, advertising, and point-of-purchase materials.

Each pricing category became a recognizable visual block, defined by its own symbol, color, and name. Together, they created a consistent language for communicating different kinds of value across the shopping experience.

The new pricing system needed to be understood as quickly as it was recognized. I developed the television concept to introduce the five pricing programs and show shoppers how they worked together to deliver value.

Building The Brand

Bringing "Built Around You" to life

The new value strategy needed to feel like more than a pricing initiative. It became an opportunity to reposition how Strack & Van Til looked, sounded, and connected with its customers.

I led the creative direction for the broader brand expression, developing a more approachable and contemporary visual language across photography, advertising, in-store communications, and campaign materials.

The goal was to make Built Around You feel tangible—not just as a tagline, but as a reflection of how the brand showed up for its customers.

Photography

I directed an in-store photography shoot to create a more human, customer-focused visual language for the brand. The imagery was developed specifically for large-format applications throughout the store, including overhead ceiling signage.

Television

I developed the creative concepts and storyboards for the television campaign, then directed the production through the final spots in partnership with production vendors.

Radio

Outdoor

Direct Mail

Digital

Partnered with the web team to translate the new brand direction into a digital experience, guiding the visual design and overall creative expression of the microsite.

The repositioning extended across every major customer touchpoint, creating a consistent expression of Built Around You from the weekly shopping trip to the broader brand experience.

My Role

I led the creative direction for the Strack & Van Til repositioning, from the development of Built Around You and the new pricing architecture through campaign development and production.

I developed the visual direction and pricing icon system, directed television and in-store photography shoots, created storyboards and shot lists, and designed in-store signage, POP, flyers, and other campaign materials.

I partnered with designers, copywriters, production vendors, media buyers, and the web team to carry the creative direction across television, radio, outdoor, direct mail, and digital, overseeing the work through final production and delivery.

Areas of Involvement

Creative Direction · Brand Strategy · Art Direction · Campaign Development · Retail Design · Photography Direction · TV / Video Direction · Print · Outdoor · Digital

The Result

Built Around You gave Strack & Van Til a clearer way to communicate value while creating a more contemporary, customer-focused expression of the brand.

The work extended from the pricing architecture into the broader customer experience—giving the repositioned brand a consistent voice across the store, campaign, and digital touchpoints.