Tantan's Portfolio

Voices of Mahomet

Mahomet Area Chamber of Commerce

Voices of Mahomet

Mahomet Area Chamber of Commerce

ROLE

Campaign Strategist

DURATION

10 Weeks

TEAM

Part of a team of 5 within a class of 17

CLIENT

Mahomet Area Chamber of Commerce | Mahomet, Illinois

FOCUS

Organizational clarity · Digital experience | Community engagement

Coffee & Wellness

Health-Conscious Gen Z

Service Ecosystem Innovation

SKILLS

Research & stakeholder interviews
Campaign strategy
Branding & identity systems
Workshop facilitation
Cross-functional collaboration

We partnered with the Mahomet Area Chamber of Commerce to re-examine how its identity, digital presence, and community engagement systems work together. The organisation had strong goodwill within the community but its broader role as a connector and enabler was not always clearly expressed.

Through stakeholder interviews, UX audits, and co-creation workshops, we identified gaps in how the Chamber's value was communicated and experienced. As a cross-functional class of 17, we developed integrated solutions across brand positioning, website architecture, and engagement strategy.

I was part of the Campaign Strategy team, a group of 5 responsible for transforming local stories, events, and everyday moments into a consistent, scalable engagement system across digital and physical touchpoints.

Meet the team

The client

A community hub that needed a clearer voice.

The Mahomet Area Chamber of Commerce supports local businesses, nonprofits, and civic partners in Mahomet, Illinois, promoting economic vitality while fostering meaningful relationships across the community. We approached this not as a rebranding exercise, but as an opportunity to clarify how the Chamber functions as an ecosystem builder.

Real client project

Community engagement

Ecosystem mapping

Understanding the ecosystem

Before solutions, context.

We grounded ourselves in the Chamber's landscape before proposing anything. Internal documents, event materials, organisational structures, and community data were reviewed. We then mapped the full stakeholder ecosystem, leadership, member businesses, residents, visitors, and civic collaborators to examine where friction or missed opportunities existed.

A recurring pattern emerged: strong local trust and event-driven visibility, but limited year-round digital engagement and differentiation from neighbouring chambers.

Stakeholder mapping

4C's Competitive Benchmarking

ERAF Framework  

Comparative analysis

Key insight

The research revealed a central tension: MACC had strong community roots, but its digital presence did not fully reflect its warmth, identity, or connective potential. This insight became the foundation for our strategic direction.

Brand diagnostics & alignment

From perception to strategy.

Before moving into solutions, we conducted a Brand Diagnostics Workshop to understand how MACC is perceived internally and where misalignment exists between intention and experience. Five analytical frameworks structured the conversation.

Dreams & Nightmares

Brand DNA Mapping

Business Model Canvas

Blue Ocean Strategy

Sailboat Mapping

What I learned

This session marked a shift from thinking about what the Chamber does to understanding how the Chamber is experienced. MACC possessed strong community trust and recognition but lacked narrative clarity and digital continuity to support year-round engagement. This alignment became the foundation for reframing its brand positioning, digital structure, and campaign strategy.

From insight to opportunity

Three areas to transform.

Research and diagnostics revealed that MACC's core strength, community trust was not fully reflected in its brand, digital presence, or engagement systems. Three opportunity areas emerged.

Branding

Evolve MACC's identity into a warmer, more unified visual and verbal language reflecting the pride, character, and collaborative spirit of the Mahomet community.

Website

Redesign the digital experience for clarity and accessibility, simplifying navigation, refining user journeys, and building a responsive platform for Events, Membership, and Community Resources.

Campaign

Amplify community voices through a structured engagement strategy, consistent messaging, flexible templates, and storytelling tools to create sustained connection across digital and physical touch points.

Co-creation workshops

Strategy shaped with stakeholders, not for them.

Rather than presenting finished solutions, we invited MACC leadership into the process. Three focused co-creation sessions, one each for Branding, Website, and Campaign, ensured every strategic direction was shaped with direct input from the people who would carry it forward.

Branding

An opportunity to shape a brand identity with Mahomet, not simply for it.   A visual and verbal language that reflects the town’s warmth, pride, and shared aspirations, cohesive, intentional, and rooted in community character.

Website

An opportunity to design a digital experience that feels distinctly Mahomet, clear, welcoming, and intuitive for residents, visitors, and businesses alike.   A platform structured around simplified navigation, refined user journeys, and accessibility that supports Events, Membership, and Community Resources with clarity.

Campaign

My contribution - campaign strategy

Building a system for community voice.

As part of the Campaign Strategy team of 5, I contributed to positioning MACC as more visible and community-centered - transforming local stories, events, and everyday moments into consistent, shareable engagement experiences. We delivered three core components.

Social Media Playbook

Templates, posting structures, and storytelling guidance for consistent online communication, giving MACC a repeatable system for showing up across digital platforms.

Engagement Toolkit

Ready-to-use calendars and activation ideas to sustain participation beyond individual events, ensuring community engagement is continuous, not reactive.

Idea Box

A flexible library of creative concepts and low-lift campaign initiatives MACC can implement at any time, giving the team autonomy without requiring external help for every activation.

Deliverable 01

Social Media Playbook

A comprehensive guide to building MACC's online presence, covering posting checklists, content templates, narrative styles, and storytelling frameworks. Designed so any team member could pick it up and post with confidence.

Deliverable 01

Social Media Playbook

Hashtag bank

Quarterly calendar

Weekly calendar

Deliverable 03

Idea Box Toolkit

The Idea Box is MACC's creative powerhouse, a ready-to-use collection of fresh, practical, and impactful ideas designed to keep their marketing vibrant and their community consistently engaged. Think of it as a living library of inspiration, filled with promotional techniques and event concepts that can be picked up, customised, and put into action at any time.

It serves as a time-saving toolkit, allowing MACC to launch creative campaigns and events without starting from scratch every time.

The Idea Box is divided into two main categories:

Promotional Methods - bold, high-energy strategies designed to grab attention and amplify MACC's visibility across digital and physical channels.

Pop-Up Events - intimate, community-focused activities that foster meaningful connections and keep the Mahomet spirit alive all year round.

Within these, the library spans over 50 distinct ideas across local business promotion, community engagement, digital outreach, virtual activations, physical events, and incentive strategies, ensuring MACC never runs out of ways to show up for its community.

Roadmap & recommendations

The full picture.

Given the project's layered scope, recommendations prioritised clarity and cohesion across brand identity, digital platforms, and communication systems, ensuring a more unified and intentional experience.

Branding

Strengthening MACC’s identity through the development of a cohesive and authentic brand system that reflects Mahomet’s character and ensures consistent, recognizable communication across all platforms.

Key deliverables included:

Brand Audit: A review of MACC’s existing brand strengths, gaps, and opportunities for refinement.
Value Proposition: A clarified articulation of MACC’s purpose, audience, and distinct value within the community.
Logo Redesign: A refreshed and adaptable logo system inspired by Mahomet’s identity to enhance recognition.
Brand Guideline Book: A structured guide to align visual and verbal communication across future materials.

Together, these elements establish a clear and unified brand foundation.

Website

Elevating MACC’s online presence by developing a cohesive and accessible website system that aligns content, improves navigation, and creates a reliable, user-friendly digital experience.

Key deliverables included:

UX Audit: An evaluation of usability, accessibility, structure, and visual consistency to identify friction points.
Information Architecture: A simplified sitemap designed to remove redundancies and create clearer navigation pathways.
Content Strategy: Recommendations for tone, hierarchy, and messaging to improve clarity and alignment.
UI / Interaction Improvements: Cleaner layouts, stronger calls-to-action, standardized components, and accessibility enhancements.

Collectively, these efforts create a more intuitive and modern digital experience that supports both members and visitors.

Campaign

Positioning MACC as more visible and community-centered by transforming local stories, events, and everyday moments into consistent, shareable engagement experiences across digital and physical touchpoints.

Key deliverables included:

Social Media Playbook: Templates, posting structures, and storytelling guidance for consistent online communication.
Engagement Toolkit: Ready-to-use calendars and activation ideas to sustain participation beyond individual events.
Idea Box: A flexible library of creative concepts and low-lift campaign initiatives MACC can implement at any time.

Together, these components form a scalable campaign system that enhances visibility, amplifies local voices, and supports year-round engagement.

Insight synthesis

Three territories that changed the question.

From synthesized research, three core insight territories crystallised, reframing our question from "how do we improve coffee ingredients?" to "how do we reduce cognitive load and rebuild trust in coffee's role within wellness?"

SO.CAFE

Social environments shape coffee behavior significantly.

(K)NOW.IT.ALL

Gen Z seeks clarity, transparency, and simplified choice.

FIT.NESSE

Health benefits must not compromise flavor or ritual.

VALUE PROPOSITION

Our initial proposition centered on enhancing coffee through added health benefits and functional ingredients. However, research revealed that the opportunity was not about adding more to the product, it was about creating a system that integrates wellness seamlessly into daily routines.

The evolved value proposition reframed coffee through three strategic pillars:

Innovative - rethinking coffee’s role within a wellness-driven lifestyle
Engaging - designing socially resonant and emotionally meaningful experiences
(W)holistic - integrating taste, health perception, and lifestyle alignment into one cohesive system

These pillars are activated through core drivers, to invent new intersections, inspire mindful consumption, and integrate wellness naturally into everyday rituals.

Operationally, the strategy is supported by key enablers: accessibility, health-conscious positioning, variety, and community-building.

This evolution reflects a shift from ingredient-level differentiation to ecosystem-level design, demonstrating how research reshaped the strategic direction.

key learnings

What this project reinforced

Communication cannot exist independently. Campaign strategy only becomes powerful when it is grounded in brand clarity and supported by a strong digital foundation.

Visibility is not about posting more content, it's about creating systems that allow stories to be shared consistently and reduce friction rather than add complexity.

Engagement is not manufactured, it is facilitated. When local voices are structured within a cohesive framework, participation becomes sustainable rather than reactive.

Alignment creates impact. Clarity builds trust. Consistency sustains connection. This project was not just about redesigning a chamber's presence, it was about learning how strategic coordination across teams can transform scattered touch points into a meaningful, unified experience.

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