Thomas Built Buses
2011
Description
Thomas Built kept me busy as an art director at HMH from when we won the account in 2003 and began preparing the launch of the new C2 bus model, until 2009 when I left the agency. From 2007 to 2009 I worked as a CD on the account with occasional writing duties. (Also see Thomas Built C2 launch)
Fields
Creative Direction, Branding, Advertising
Print advertisement selling the tough, rural-going Thomas Built HDX. Andy Batt, Portland, OR, did a great job creating and shooting the school and mountain goat x-ing signs.
Reliability ad for the HDX. The ad's layout is like a calendar and each day has the same time, 7:29:13, suggesting consistent reliability.
Thomas Built C2 "reliability" ad. On the "calendar" are many scheduled stops, such as a natural history museum and a gymnastics meet. Downtime is the only thing not on its calendar.
"Remote" and "Duster" are images from an ad campaign about "bus love."
Large format office calendar. School districts looked forward to getting an attractive, useful calendar every year from Thomas Built.
Rick Haithcox, Dallas, NC, did a great job of shooting any type of bus image I could dream of, such as this motion shot in the rain.
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A collection of fun, innovative marketing for Charlotte's Carolina Premier Bank.Advertising, Branding, Creative Direction2012 -
Various work for Onslow Memorial Hospital in Jacksonville, NC. Includes work from an integrated brand image campaign called "Thrive On" which is supported by TV, radio, print, outdoor, online advertising and social media.Advertising, Branding, Creative Direction2013 -
After recreating their logo, Inner Peaks wanted a whole new website. The site needed to be dynamic, easily user-managed and well-optioned for easy updates to layouts and navigation. It was also important to integrate social media, especially Facebook.
One key thing lacking in the original site was that the physical experience of the vast gym space (13,000 square feet of climbing terrain plus a fitness room and gear shop) and climbing activity were not well represented. The new site changes all that with large hero shots, fun headlines, a photo gallery, video and a gear shop section.
Inner Peaks is an exciting, fun place and climbing is a great sport, but still a bit foreign to many people. Headlines and copy were not only written with SEO in mind, but also to educate, intrigue and draw new visitors into the idea of climbing. "First Timers" get their own section with specific messages and, where opportune, links from other sections point to the First Timers page. For economy of space on a page there is a slide-out Facebook widget, collapsable paragraphs for staff bios and Ajax tabs to keep page migration less frequent and engagement high.Branding, Copywriting, Web Design2012 -
This spring, Duke Energy decided to give each of its 7,000 medium-sized business customers a dedicated energy efficiency advisor for free. This person’s entire job is to look at each customer’s business, evaluate their energy usage and then suggest specific things that company can do to save a significant portion on their monthly energy bill (from 5%- 20%). Saturday Brand Communication's task was to create a simple marketing piece that busy business owners would engage with, learn the program and get primed for their next call with their new Duke Energy Account Manager.Art Direction, Graphic Design, Writing2012 -
Savvy business owners strive to lower costs and make their business more efficient by investing in technology, equipment and talent. Yet few realize that investing in energy efficiency can be one of the smartest business decisions they make. My agency, Saturday, helped Duke Energy launch a new product that helps their Large Business customer maximize energy efficiency and, in the process, achieve long term cost savings. By pointing out that energy efficiency is often a “hidden asset” we were able to position the aptly-named SmartBuilding Advantage® as a worthy investment ... and an environmentally sound one.
SBA marketing materials are really an integrated kit. A heavy-duty folder includes an elegant fold-over panel and clasp and structured box folds on the ends. This folder's interior hold brochures and case studies written specifically for vertical audiences in healthcare, education, municipal and more. Custom photography and language appropriate to each vertical (including energy facts) provide a sense of familiarity and create relevance with the reader.Art Direction, Graphic Design, Photography2012 -
This is a miscellaneous collection of ad work for Figaro's Pizza, Alliance Parts, Crescent Communities at Lake James, Huntersville Family Fitness & Aquatic Center.Advertising, Branding2011 -
This is a miscellaneous collection of advertising done for HMH in Portland, HMH in Charlotte and Saturday, also in Charlotte, NC.Advertising, Branding, Street Art2011 -
This is a miscellaneous collection of ad work for Roush Fenway Racing, Alberta Co-op Grocery, Carolina Premier Bank, Forest Film Festival, Saturday.Advertising, Creative Direction, Branding2011 -
Collection of miscellaneous advertising work: An employee awareness campaign for Wachovia Fitness Club, tucked away in the corner of a huge operations campus; print ad for an orthopedic specialist targeting hand and wrist pain sufferers; a candybar promotion for Saturday Brand Communications; print work for Willamette Family of Funds.Advertising, Branding2011 -
Roush Fenway is a leading NASCAR team and the largest motorsports marketing organization in the world. They have a fantastic story to tell potential sponsors, who ultimately enter into deals worth tens of millions of dollars. But it's a complex story, especially when you tell the broader story of NASCAR as a sports marketing platform. Saturday provided a site strategy, messaging platforms and architecture to get it all done in a single site destination.
Once we got the green light, design and development began. The result is a completely immersive experience for marketers who are interested in sports marketing and need more information about NASCAR, and for those who are sold on NASCAR but are looking for a team partner to achieve success. Since marketers are time-starved we kept content very hierarchical with key takeaway messages leading every section, limited the opportunity for distraction and outbound navigation (e.g. keeping links to a minimum and reducing the number of buttons on most pages) and encouraging use of interactive tools. The hope is for an experience in which users can easily establish where they are on a sales path and quickly find the information which is compelling to them.Copywriting, Web Design, Interactive2011 -
A collection of radio spots. Credits go to Becca Bernstein, and John Causby and the gang at The Groundcrew Studio in Charlotte.Creative Direction, Copywriting, Advertising2011 -
Television spots and video. The stop motion project for Chester Wood was put together by Burton Lancaster, with some help from Shawn Kelley, who were part of my creative team at HMH in Charlotte. We took a couple days worth of stills and video of the plywood manufacturing process -- and put them together for this corporate video component. It was part of a larger five minute presentation.Television, Advertising2011 -
Gentle Giant has a great word-of-mouth business in New England, but in Charlotte they're newer and much less well known. Too bad, because they may very well be the best moving company in the world. They hire clean cut athletic young men and women who bring a fun, positive attitude to the job. The muscles, attitude and teamwork combine to make for a quick, even enjoyable move. We used snapshots and quirky humor to attract attention and reflect the company's unique culture.Advertising, Branding, Creative Direction2011 -
Brand work for Sterling Trucks, a division of Daimler Trucks NA. I was involved in not only positioning and development for the Sterling brand, but with launch campaigns as well for several products, including the Set Forward series, the Bullet and the 360. My team at HMH was also responsible for name and product branding for the 360 and Bullet.Advertising, Branding2011 -
Brawley's Beverage is a Charlotte beer and wine retailer known for two things: a great selection and Mike Brawley. Mike wanted advertising that would get the attention of busy young people -- even if it meant being a bit risque -- and deliver a message about selection and the store's easy going, fun environment. A tagline was developed to convey both, "There's always more at Brawley's" (as in more fun, more jokes, more beer).Advertising, Branding, Street Art2011 -
Hair Care came to us without a name, just a dream: provide free hair cuts -- and a boost in self esteem -- to unemployed people during the bad economy. We loved it and dove right in coming up with a name, logo and event creative work that could be updated as they went city to city. And they did, very soon ending up in New York and other cities where the salon community wanted to donate their skills and time to people in need. A typical event weekend will draw up to 500 people. A single salon will host the event but stylists from other salons will visit to work a shift. A very cool idea!Branding, Advertising2011 -
Carolina Raptor Center, Charlotte, NC; outdoor advertising (OBIE finalist, "Cow Spleen"), print advertising for summer event series, brand creation and design work for a new fundraising event called "Take Flight." Take Flight was promoted via street banners, direct mail postcards, website ads and animated banners.Art Direction, Copywriting, Advertising2011 -
Primland was a highland hunting and unique golf destination, mostly oriented toward men. That all changed when they built an amazingly sleek, LEEDS certified lodge. With an incredible mountaintop perch, world class golf course, top restaurant and spa, and even an observatory, Primland suddenly needed to reinvent their brand to be about more than great hunting and to target women and corporate retreat planners. Saturday did all the rebranding, handled the launch promotions and materials, helped get the lodge going with things like valet tags, menus, postcards and gift cards, stationery for rooms, even some "don't steal this robe" cards. After the launch we set about promoting everything with print ads and targeted email marketing with landing pages.Advertising, Branding, Design2011 -
For 8 years I worked as an art director, then ACD, then CD, and later as a writer/CD for Freightliner Trucks (and its many sister divisions at Daimler). I worked with many great photographers and product people who taught me a lot about this interesting segment of our economy. At one time I counted 13 major product launches, from engines to transmissions to new truck or bus models. For more in this vertical, see: Alliance Parts, Thomas Built Buses, Sterling Trucks.Art Direction, Copywriting, Design2011 -
An integrated product launch campaign which includes naming, product identity and guidelines, sales collateral, trade show graphics and giveaways, dealer display materials, print advertising.Advertising, Branding, Design2011