Work / Field report 01
Stick
together.
An Instagram campaign for Starfish Student Living, a small student letting business with houses a short walk from the University of Birmingham. The job: help fill next year's houses with groups who book directly, not through someone in between.
- Client
- Starfish Student Living, Selly Oak, Birmingham
- For
- 2027–28 lettings
- Channel
- Instagram: feed, Stories and Reels
- Running
- 15 October – 13 December 2026
- My part
- Idea, creative, posting plan, scheduling and ads
- Status
- Live now. Results once it ends.
1The brief
Fill the
houses,
direct.
Students in Selly Oak start looking for next year's house surprisingly early, and most of them meet a landlord through someone else. Starfish wanted more groups to come straight to them.
Who it's for
- First-years in halls choosing their first shared house
- Second-years moving on for their final year
- International students at every stage, often renting in the UK for the first time
What it had to do
- Show real houses at their best, with honest, light editing only
- Prove, with real examples, that the people who look after the house actually turn up
- Sound warm and reassuring, a bit parental, never pushy
- End every piece the same way: book a viewing, direct, at mystarfish.net
2The idea
Five arms.
One house.
A starfish has five arms; a student house is a handful of friends who want to stay together. So the campaign is a promise in two halves: you look after each other, we'll look after the house.
Stick together. Nobody in between.
A “Direct from the landlord” stamp runs across the posts, so the second half of the line is backed up every time: fewer people between a problem and its fix.
- Message 01
A house that fits all of you
- Message 02
A landlord who's there when you need one
- Message 03
First time renting? We'll guide you
The concept board that set the look: Starfish green, ink, cream and coral, big warm type.
3The creative
Posts &
Stories.
A selection of the finished feed posts (1080 × 1350) and tall ads for Stories and Reels (1080 × 1920). Real houses, real repairs, plain English. Tap any to enlarge.
Feed posts · a selection
Post 01 · Harrow Road Post 02 · Your first house together Post 03 · Five of you, or eight? Post 04 · One loose shelf Post 05 · 9pm. Next day. Post 07 · We’ll guide you Post 08 · No guarantor in the family? Post 09 · We’re parents too Post 10 · Heeley Road Post 11 · Tiverton Road Post 15 · Dawlish Road Post 16 · Newton Grove Post 17 · Heeley Road, second house Post 12 · We are the landlord Post 13 · Fewer people Post 14 · Because it is
Story & Reel ads · a selection
Story 04 · Loose shelf Story 09 · Parents too Story 12 · We are the landlord Story 13 · Fewer people Story 14 · Because it is
Creative © Starfish Student Living. Some house details trimmed for this page.
4What I delivered
Idea to
live ads.
Three routes, one idea
Explored three campaign routes, then built “Stick together” into a full platform with a concept board.
21 feed posts
House posts, real repair stories, first-time-renter guidance and the “Direct from the landlord” series.
Tall Story & Reel ads
Versions of the strongest posts, re-laid out for full-screen 9:16.
Posting plan & captions
An eight-week plan with a caption for every post, so nothing is written in a rush.
Scheduling with approvals
Every post set up in Planable, so the client approves each one before it goes out.
Instagram ads
Ads set up and launched alongside the posts, with Meta’s housing-ad settings and a clear plan for when to pause, swap and rebalance.
Photo grading
Light, honest edits to the real house photos: brightness, warmth and colour, nothing that changes what's in the room.
A system, not one-offs
A look and tone that can carry onto house boards, the website and a welcome pack.
5Where it stands
Still in
the field.
Campaign live, Oct–Dec 2026. It started on 15 October and runs to 13 December. There are no results to report yet, so you won't find any numbers here. I'll add what it achieved once the campaign has finished and the enquiries are counted.
6More work
Keep
exploring.
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