Brand Strategy · Creative Direction · Campaigns
Strategy
Twenty years positioning brands and building the campaign, content & commercial systems that grow them — led by the DIO Crete case study.
Strategy
Featured Case Study
Featured Case Study · 2026
A Mediterranean lifestyle destination · Crete, Greece
A premium beach club and open-air events venue on the Aegean, evolving a thirty-year entertainment legacy into a modern luxury brand. I was engaged to build the brand end to end — defining the strategy, then designing every touchpoint that brings it to life.
Brand Strategy
Creative Direction
Campaign Design
Named after Dionysus — the Greek god of celebration, wine and ecstasy — DIO needed a brand as considered as the experience it promises. I set the positioning and the commercial model, then carried one cohesive visual language across social, campaign art, interiors, uniforms and the investor story.
The Scope of Work
01
Brand & Marketing Strategy
Positioning, business analysis and a five-pillar revenue model.
02
Social Media Strategy
Funnel, platform roles and a six-pillar content system.
03
Campaign & Event Art
Hedonism, Sun Sets & artist-series poster suites.
04
Paid & Meta Ads
Creative built to scale across square and wide placements.
05
Accommodation Alignment
DIO Suites interior direction, palette and sourcing.
06
Team Uniforms
Taverna & Kiosk concepts rooted in Cretan dress.
07
Investor & Artist Pitch
The vision, opportunity and founder legacy for partners.
08
Website Direction
dio.life shaped as the booking and conversion hub.
Strategic Foundations
Positioning
The benchmark for modern Greek luxury — a beachside scene where luxury isn't quiet, it's alive.
Audience
Style-conscious, affluent travellers aged 25–45 who value experience over excess and culture over cliché.
Revenue Model
Five pillars — stays, dining, live events, retail collaborations and digital extensions from ticketing to Spotify.
Content Engine
Instagram for desire, TikTok for discovery, Pinterest for planning — fed by six pillars led by music and lifestyle.
Business & Market Analysis
Benchmarking DIO against the Mediterranean's leading beach clubs to find its ownable space
Nammos
Mykonos
Ultra-luxury, celebrity lifestyle village — the strongest international brand pull in the category.
Key Risk
Reputation exposure & high fixed costs.
Scorpios
Mykonos
Boho-luxe, ritual & music, backed by Soho House — experiential differentiation with a global membership network.
Key Risk
Brand dilution & programming costs on expansion.
Alemagou
Mykonos
Boutique, slow-summer island vibe — authenticity and a loyal repeat crowd give defensible niche positioning.
Key Risk
Vulnerable to seasonality & limited scale.
DIO
Crete
Music-led hedonistic beachfront with a party & sunset focus — a clear sonic identity in a market far less saturated than Mykonos.
The Opportunity
Own premium beach-party culture in Crete.
The Commercial Model
Five revenue pillars — turning a single destination into a year-round lifestyle ecosystem
01
Hospitality & Accommodation
Luxury suites & villas, private buy-outs and premium guest services.
02
Food & Beverage
Restaurant dining, beach-bar & sunset service, table packages and signature products.
03
Live Music & Events
Ticketed DJ nights, headliner sets, private hire and sponsored brand takeovers.
04
Collaborations & Retail
Branded merchandise, limited-edition product lines and content partnerships.
05
Digital & Experiential
Spotify sound series, livestreams and website-integrated concierge bookings.
Primary — Core Operations
Secondary — Brand Expansion
Emerging — Digital Growth
Channel & Funnel Strategy
Social drives discovery and desire; the website converts
Top of Funnel
Discovery
Introduce DIO to global audiences through lifestyle content — "a day in Crete", beach mornings and sunset reels. Reach led by TikTok.
Middle of Funnel
Consideration
Show what happens at DIO — events, food, beach and experiences. Instagram builds desire and validates the experience.
Bottom of Funnel
Conversion
Push toward bookings, reservations and tickets with clear CTAs and urgency — the website as the conversion hub.
Instagram
Core — aesthetic, desire, trip research.
TikTok
Discovery — reach, trends, raw moments.
Pinterest
Planning — saves, moodboarding, intent.
Spotify
Sonic identity — relive DIO anywhere.
Messaging Pillars
Indulgence · Connection · Discovery · Modern Greek Luxury
Priority Markets
UK · UAE · USA · Australia
Social Media
Feed Art Direction
The planned Instagram feed — an editorial summer diary in Crete
The Content System
Six content pillars — music draws you in, lifestyle makes you stay, food & culture make it memorable
Repeatable Content Series
Greek Words You Need to Know
Language & culture, carousel / reels.
DIO Interviews
DJs, staff, guests & founders.
Meet the Local Partners
Producers & makers behind DIO.
Inside Crete
Food, traditions, rhythms, insights.
DIO Recommends
Curated beaches & experiences.
How to Do DIO Properly
Playbook for first-timers & groups.
What's Playing Right Now
Track of the week, from Spotify.
This Week at DIO
Line-ups, key nights, highlights.
Brand DNA · Sound
Music as the brand's emotional anchor
Modelled on how Hotel Costes turned sound into atmosphere, I positioned music as DIO's signature — not background noise but brand DNA. A "DIO Sessions" series and a curated Spotify identity extend the venue's feeling far beyond Crete, so guests can relive the experience anywhere and the brand earns a cultural footprint few competitors own.
DIO in Your Playlist
A curated Spotify identity — Sunrise, Mornings, Afternoons & Evenings
Website
dio.life
The live booking & conversion hub — design direction through to launch
Branding & Merchandise
Branding & Merchandise
Brand style direction by Julie Joanny · activated across strategy, campaign & content
Named after Dionysus — Greek god of celebration, wine & ecstasy — DIO pairs a neoclassical wordmark with a sun-faded palette and a Greek-key visual world. The complete brand system, as delivered:
Sub-Brands
Brand Pillars
Experience
A curated souvenir — every visit designed to be remembered and retold.
Location
See the sites, dance all night — a place that lives across the whole day.
Offering Range
Active mornings, quiet days, sunset afternoons, loud nights — from dawn to… dawn.
Style & Tone of Voice
Hedonist·
Luxurious·
Epicurean·
Curated·
Savour·
Dance·
Stay·
Discover
Branding Colour Palette
Stay · Accommodation
#e7cbad
Typographic System
Neue MontrealCore Brand
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
Beirut DisplaySub-Brands
Display light — reserved for sub-brands, events & a neoclassical Greek accent.
Instagram Highlight Icons
Web Application
Merchandise
Branded fans, head scarves, t-shirts & bags — the Greek-key motif across a retail range
Branded Fans
Head Scarves
T-Shirts
Bags
Team Uniform Concepts
Traditional Cretan dress reinterpreted into a modern taverna & kiosk uniform
The uniform system reinterprets traditional Cretan dress into a modern look, applied across the two areas of service — The Taverna (restaurant) and The Kiosk (beach café).
Traditional Crete Costume
Modern Interpretation
Two Areas of Service
Accommodation & Interiors
DIO Suites interior brand alignment · palette, materials & sourcing direction
DIO Suites is the accommodation side of the business — where guests book their stay. The current rooms read dark and disconnected from the Aegean; this work realigns them to the brand, then threads the DIO palette through the interiors so one identity holds across every part of the business.
01 · Brand Alignment with the Accommodation
02 · Interior Colour Moodboard
03 · Brand Colours Entwined Through the Interiors
Menu & Print Collateral
Taverna & kiosk menus, tabletops and the on-site print system
Meta Ads Design
Campaign & Event Art
Poster & event art for Hedonism, Sun Sets & the Marasi artist series · paid social
Meta & Paid Ads
Event-driven ad creative built to scale across placements & formats
Further Strategy Work
Ethical dog food · brand development & visual identity
Led brand development and visual identity, and produced all core photography and visual assets across the brand's growth — a key role in scaling SavourLife toward a $20M+ acquisition.
Bella Brands — Agency
11 years
Positioning, campaigns & content systems
End-to-end brand systems — positioning, identity, campaign calendars and email/CRM programs — for premium lifestyle, food, hospitality and wellness brands across Australia and Europe.
