Duncan/Channon. Award-winning branding. Advertising. Design. Digital. Social media. Mobile. Broadcast. Print. Outdoor. Identity. Packaging. Media planning and buying. Account planning. Production. Not to mention the Tip. All in one action-packed agency in downtown San Francisco.
There are actually two Lake Tahoes, north and south. With a half-dozen isolated resorts and few winter activities beyond skiing, it has been easy for consumers to grok an image of the north as the lake’s quiet side. On the other hand, with tons to do at every hour and for every budget, including great skiing at every skill level and conveniently located bars, restaurants, shopping and 24/7 gaming, it has been tough for consumers to envision a singular image of the south — or for marketers to project one cohesive brand.
No longer. The Lake Tahoe Visitors Authority, which is tasked with promoting the south side, hired D/C for a complete rebrand. Eight months later, client and agency unveiled the new brand and an entirely new name for the destination — Tahoe South. The strategy embraces the truth of the destination, that it’s the place for the up-all-day-and-night visitor, and the brand identity celebrates this spirit. The website is curated by local experts and serves as a digital concierge to the region, connecting visitors and would-be visitors to the best web content about Tahoe South, as well as relevant real-time feeds from YouTube, Flickr, Facebook and Twitter.
Though the work just launched, the SF Egotist has already said they’re some of the prettiest print ads since Gutenberg. And the banners pick up the same rich, allusive design and gorgeous photography. And every element of this multi-million-dollar campaign incorporates a refreshed brand identity and rests on a completely renovated brand platform — all authored by Duncan/Channon, in collaboration with agency-of-record client Blurb.
For those not among the 1.5 million who have already created a volume of their own photography, memoirs, wedding pictures or the like, Blurb is the leader in helping people make beautiful printed books via the web. Their service includes pro-level, yet easy-to-use, design tools and a fail-safe production process delivering budget-defying quality.
Duncan/Channon revisits the winners’ circle at the 2011 REBRAND 100 Global Awards, picking up a Merit for the rebranding of Esurance. The prize is given for concept, design and strategy. As explained in the entry package, the revamped identity system and type-only Esurance logo was designed to deliver a singular message: that the company that pretty much invented online car insurance continues to innovate on behalf of busy consumers, always working to make the process of buying or using its products more intuitive, more convenient, more transparent and more friendly. It’s about smartness in the service of simplicity. The Merit award means D/C’s work ranks among the world’s most successful rebrands in 2010, alongside rebrands of Audi, Sprint Nextel and Subaru Australia. D/C won for the Hard Rock rebrand in 2007.
Created for Jackson Family Wines (of Kendall-Jackson fame), Farrier is a brand that D/C helped build from the ground up. The client came with a plot of land in Sonoma’s Alexander Valley and a challenge — create a wine brand that embodies the heritage of that singular place.
The overall concept taps into the sense of community that has historically played such an important role in rural life. Jackson Family Wines has always been guided by a strong appreciation for the land. And, as a family business, it is deeply rooted in the community. It seemed natural for Farrier to pay tribute to these things.
The design tells the story of a blacksmith shop that had been on the property in the 1800s. It was a place where the local farrier (or horseshoe fitter, for those of you not familiar with equine parlance) plied his trade and the townsfolk gathered to socialize. Reinforcing the handcrafted quality of the wine, the packaging mirrors the look of an old newspaper and the language adopts an endearingly olde-school colloquial tone. The red wine uses a more traditional wrap label, while the whites are adorned with a die-cut “F.”
More images after the jump; click for full-size images on Flickr. Continue reading
To signify dorkishness, the 2001 movie Ghost World, set among contemporary twenty-somethings, clothed a character in a Hard Rock t-shirt. One measure (you surely have your own) of how far this 30-year-old brand had fallen. So D/C’s work, in close collaboration with Hard Rock’s new management team, started by clarifying and then communicating a new brand strategy to a confused rank-and-file. It continued on through revising the menus (graphically and otherwise), reviving merchandise sales and, through advertising, promotions and events, re-connecting the brand to contemporary culture and contemporary customers. Along the way, the agency completed a comprehensive, top-to-bottom design overhaul, which has now been awarded top honors from the prestigious REBRAND 100 competition, a worldwide contest that recognizes excellence involving both design and strategy.
“You should have been there when we presented this one,” says creative director Mike Lemme. The proposed new mark, taking off from the company’s name, is a type treatment of that name upside-down and/or backwards.
It’s not just a stunt. The meaning of the company’s name, of course, is the first thing that motivates this mark. But the audacity of the logo speaks loudly and clearly to the audacity of the company, which is known for solving the knottiest software development problems. There’s also the affinity of the company’s primary technical audience (not to mention its secondary audience, Vertigo’s internal staff) for visual conundrums, for a clever little challenge that demands the application of their own cleverness.
The branding work didn’t, of course, stop at the logo. It also encompassed a comprehensive brand book, graphic standards, a re-design of the website, a portfolio of graphic templates, and more.
The fun, puzzling nature of the mark and the obsessive precision of the system has energized the client’s organization and impressed customers and friends alike. It has earned D/C a gold statue in the San Francisco ADDYs and an entry into the national ADDYs. And, perhaps best of all, Vertigo has just closed books on their best year ever.
Founded in the mid-seventies by the late singer-songwriter Harry Chapin (“Cats in the Cradle,” “Taxi,” etc.) and DJ Bill Ayres, WhyHunger (formerly World Hunger Year) is dedicated to getting at the root causes of hunger and the poverty that inevitably accompanies it. They do this by finding and funding grassroots groups that are having a measure of success and then sharing those successful techniques with other grassroots groups, and so on.
D/C got involved with WhyHunger two years ago when the agency conceived and designed a benefit CD for the group that featured songs by Bruce Springsteen, Aerosmith and the Hold Steady, among many others, and was sponsored by Hard Rock. The collection was called Serve, and its success led to D/C developing Serve2, with a new set of songs from new and veteran artists, including Springsteen and the Hold Steady again. This time, with the help of the digital distribution company The Orchard, the set was picked up by iTunes and featured on localized iTunes sites around the world, leading to a whole new level of publicity and funds for fighting hunger. In October, D/C also completed a brand overhaul for the 30-year-old organization. The powerfully simple logo picks up the word “why,” but adds a period after it — because this group is not about just asking questions, it’s about real-world solutions. And currently in progress is a new WhyHunger website, with information architecture, visual design and copy by D/C.
The client reports that, in part due to the new branding and accompanying advertising from D/C, their fall fundraiser shattered all previous records. And, after all, that’s what it’s all about.
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