Bookshop on The Avenue
Rebranding a 30-year-old Lynchburg bookstore around the people who walk through its doors.
Brand Strategy
Content Creation
Role
Brand Strategist / Social Media & Content
Timeline
8 weeks
team
5-person student team, STCO 346
platform
Canva, Wix, Instagram
Overview
Bookshop On The Avenue is a locally owned bookstore with three floors and more than 130,000 books, movies, and vinyl records. Its brand was inconsistent: three mismatched logos across its signage and online presence, and messaging focused on the store instead of its customers. Our team built a complete rebrand using Donald Miller's StoryBrand framework, from strategy and visual identity to a website, a video, and social content.
The Strategy
StoryBrand flips the usual approach. The customer is the hero, and the brand is the guide.
The hero: A Lynchburg book lover who wants to get lost in a great story but can't find the right book at the right price on their own.
The guide: Owner Walt, who knows his collection inside and out and helps every reader find their next favorite book.
The brand personality: The Everyman archetype, which is friendly, humble, authentic, and built on belonging.
The slogan: "A story from every street."
Visual: the StoryBrand map from your brand guide.
Story brand Commercial
A short narrative ad following three friends through the bookshop. One gets so lost in a book that the scene transforms into a paper-textured world inside its pages, and her friend joins her there before they head to checkout together.
I helped develop the strategy behind the ad. We wrote a StoryBrand script where the hero wants more than a good book. She wants deeper connection with her friends, so the bookshop becomes the place where reading turns into friendship. We used Jonah Berger's STEPPS framework to make the ad emotional and shareable, and planned every scene in a detailed shot list that teammates used for filming.
Skills: brand storytelling, concept development, StoryBrand and STEPPS strategy, shot list planning
Bookshop On the Avenue Website
A reader-first Wix site that turns the brand story into clear actions: browse the collection, sell or trade books, read the blog, and subscribe to the newsletter.
Skills: web design, copywriting, user-focused content structure
Social Content
An Instagram strategy built for consistency, posting 3–5 times a week. It rotates new arrivals, customer highlights, the in-store atmosphere, and Reels, and pairs with an email newsletter for stock updates, customer stories, and giveaways.
Skills: social media strategy, content planning, email marketing
What We Made
Bookshop on the Avenue by Magen James
Brand Guide
A 22-page guide that defines the brand's manifesto, archetype, logo system, typography, and color palette. The new combination mark shows books of different sizes leaning together, with the B resting on the A, reflecting the store's warm, slightly quirky personality. We chose a purple and blue palette for curiosity, nostalgia, and trust.
Skills: brand strategy, visual identity, typography and color theory, brand standards
What I Learned
This project taught me that a brand is a story, and the customer has to be the main character. Once we shifted from "what we sell" to "who we serve," every decision got easier, from the logo to the posting schedule. It also showed me how one strategy can carry across very different formats, like a brand guide, a website, a video, and social content, while still feeling like one brand.