The Short Story

Tips and Tricks and Useful Info

From Airport Idea to a Brand Women Are Lining Up For

Client Spotlight:
How We Helped Poppy Go From Airport Idea to a Brand Women Are Lining Up For

Every once in a while, a client walks in with an idea that is not fully formed yet, but the conviction behind it is completely undeniable.

That is exactly what happened when Dori Middlebrook came to us with Poppy.

Dori had been a client of ours for years. When she stepped away from a 15-year career as an educational consultant in 2025, she did not slow down. She traveled. She reconnected with old friends. She learned to surf. And somewhere in an airport, waiting for her next flight, she started sketching the outline of something new.

A retreat for women 50 and older.

A place to connect, learn, laugh, and grow alongside other women who were not done yet.

She reached out to see what it would take to bring the idea to life.

The challenge: branding something brand new

Poppy didn't exist yet.

There was no product, no proven audience, no track record to point to, just Dori's vision, her instincts, and a deep personal understanding of exactly who she was building this for.

That's actually one of the most interesting creative briefs to receive. Without legacy constraints, everything is intentional. Every color choice, every font, every word on the homepage has to do real work, because there's nothing else yet to build trust for you.

Our job was to take the feeling Dori described, french country, garden, warm, energizing, sophisticated but not stuffy, built for women who've earned their confidence, and translate it into a visual identity and a website that a stranger could land on and immediately get.

What we delivered

Dori came to us because she wanted to see what was possible with Poppy before trying to build it all herself. Having professional creative support mattered, especially from a team she already had a relationship with and trusted to help shape the idea thoughtfully.

For Poppy’s retreat beta launch, we supported two core pieces of the launch: the brand foundation and the website experience.

First, we helped shape the name, confirm domain availability, refine the logo, and design the landing page. We explored several names and brand directions before landing on Poppy, which made the process both challenging and fun in the best way.

The brand needed to feel distinct without feeling loud. Poppy is named for a flower that is both delicate and bold, and the visual identity needed to carry that same duality.

Second, we designed and developed a website that could build trust quickly. Dori had a meaningful story to tell, and women considering a retreat, especially one with only 25 spots available by lottery, are making a real commitment. The site needed to honor that decision by being clear, warm, and credible from the first scroll.

We built the landing page around the retreat details, Dori’s story, and a speaker lineup that helps the event speak for itself. We also made sure Dori could easily manage and update the page on her own, giving her flexibility as the launch continued to grow.

The result

Poppy’s beta launch has already generated strong early interest.
Registration for the September 28–29, 2026 retreat in Rancho Santa Fe is by lottery, with only 25 spots available, and early response has exceeded expectations.

In Dori’s words: “I am excited about the response I have received.”

That kind of early traction for a brand-new concept, before a single event has taken place, is meaningful. It happens when the brand does its job: when someone encounters the name, the logo, and the website and immediately understands not just what it is, but how it would feel to be there.

What this project reminded us

Working with Dori on Poppy was a good reminder of why early-stage brand work matters so much.

When you are launching something new, it is tempting to treat design as something to figure out later: get the idea off the ground first, then polish it once you know it is working.

But brand and concept are not separate. The way something looks, sounds, and feels is part of what makes people believe in it.

Dori understood that intuitively, which is part of why she came to us before she launched, not after.

If you are building something new and want to give it the best possible start, we would love to talk.