Case Study · Social Media Retainer
Building a Community Hub, One Post at a Time
How Casico Creative built the social media presence for spARK Labs by ARK Invest and helped the center reach full capacity months ahead of schedule.
Where we started
Just days before the spARK Labs by ARK Invest Open House on November 19, unveiling the rebrand from Tampa Bay Innovation Center to the center we know and love today, Casico Creative took over social media management across LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, and X. The rebrand, designed by Coconspirator and led by Shane Needham, was set to go public at the Open House. Our job was to build brand fidelity across every channel and activate that rebrand the moment it launched, so the channels were ready to carry the new identity from day one. This case study focuses on LinkedIn and Instagram, the two platforms that drove the most measurable growth.
"Let's Make St. Pete the Next St. Pete."
What we did
Profile Overhaul
- •Rebuilt both LinkedIn and Instagram from the ground up before a single new post went out.
- •New bios, updated links, visual identity aligned to the rebrand across every platform.
Brand Activation
- •Rolled the Coconspirator rebrand out across every channel: visual language, content framework, a personality people would remember.
- •Created a signature emoji, ⚡, tied to the name, the brand colors, and the theme of disrupted innovation.
- •Members started using it in their own captions and Stories, unprompted.
Posting
- •Video first: member spotlights, event coverage, space tours, the people actually building spARK Labs.
- •Instagram Stories from inside every member event, in real time.
- •Every press mention and member win, reshared.
- •No content calendar planned months out. Monthly film days keep it tied to what's actually happening.
Brand Voice
- •One consistent tone and personality across every caption, story, and comment.
- •Built to reflect St. Pete, the members, and the team's values.
Lead Funnel
- •Built intake forms, updated bio links, wrote CTAs into every post.
- •Pointed interest toward membership inquiries and event sign-ups, not just followers.
Community engagement
This was the heart of it: show up online the same way spARK Labs was already showing up in person, so the two never felt like separate things. We wanted to treat people the way you'd want to be treated if you walked into the space yourself.
- •Replied or engaged with every mention, comment, repost, and DM
- •Followed clients, members, partners, and local orgs we got to know from being in the building, so we never missed a chance to tag them, celebrate their wins, or show up in their comments first
- •Made posts that spotlighted a member, a partner, a local org, instead of spARK Labs itself
- •The more we showed up for people, the more they showed up for us, becoming champions: tagging spARK Labs, sharing their own spARK stories, bringing the ⚡ into their own posts without anyone asking
The numbers
January to June 2026, growth over the period.
17%
of new spARK Labs members came directly from social media.
LinkedIn Engagement (Nov to Jan vs May to June)
+118.5%
Comments
+104.8%
Reposts
+139.7%
Reactions
LinkedIn Growth
+41%
Impressions
+59%
Members Reached
+28.4%
Follower Growth
Instagram Growth
+143.5%
Follower Growth
+90%
Accounts Reached
+215.05%
Views
What the numbers actually mean
The engagement numbers tell you people were paying attention. The 17% tells you it worked: they found the account, followed along, and eventually walked through the door or joined the waitlist. Before Casico, spARK Labs grew by word of mouth. Now social media is a working part of how the community grows.
Read what happened next: the ARK Big Ideas Summit St. Pete →Let's Create
This is for small teams and purpose-driven brands who want their online presence to feel just as real as their in-person one. If you've got a story worth telling and a community worth building, you're exactly who we love working with.
So whether it's social media, brand activation, event promotion, brand collateral, or just an extra set of hands, let's create together. Grab 20 minutes on our calendar or send us an email, whichever feels easier, and we'll figure out together if we're the right fit.