Award-winning branding. Advertising. Design. Interactive. Social media. Broadcast. Print. Outdoor. Identity. Packaging. POS. Direct mail. Media planning and buying. Production. Not to mention the Tip. All in one action-packed agency in downtown San Francisco.
The critically acclaimed Sonoma County winery, Murphy-Goode, now a division of Jackson Family Wines (the Kendall Jackson folks), has begun rolling out its brand new brand image, developed with assistance from – you guessed it – Duncan/Channon.
Like all the best brand overhauls, this one is less a re-make than a reveal, finding the essence of what was already a lively, well-regarded brand and bringing its key elements to the fore. In the case of Murphy-Goode, that meant turning a spotlight on the winery’s culture of collegiality, sociability and great, goode humor, as suggested by, among other things, the names of some of its wines – including its famous Zinfandel, Liar’s Dice – and the jocular personality of winemaker (and ex-rocker) Dave Ready, Jr.
D/C worked with Marketing Director Ciara Meaney from the initial brand research all the way through implementation of murphygoode.com. The wine- and fun-loving (indeed) D/C team developed the brand’s strategic platform (basically, that MG peeps take their wine seriously, but not themselves) and then codified its look and feel through a comprehensive set of brand guidelines. The assignment also included the development of an extensive library of photography, an innovative (and totally entertaining) POS campaign (featuring an interactive menu generator), a series of tasting videos starring the winemaker, as well as murals and graphics for their new tasting room.
While it may be too early to measure the sure-to-be-salutary effect on sales, the mood around MG HQ in the wake of the re-vamp has been exceedingly positive, especially toward the agency. One senior marketing person called D/C – in what we take to be a compliment – her “magic fairy dust.” (Although a male creative, it must be told, initially remembered the compliment as being a tad more macho, proudly reporting that the client had called us her “silver bullet.”)
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.
When D/C began working with Birkenstock – makers of the venerable sandal beloved by newspaper reporters looking for shorthand to describe liberal-hippie types – the only outward facing communication they did was an overly styled, somewhat flashy and definitely “off-brand” catalog. Slick and glossy, it just seemed to have no real connection with the soul of this ancient company. So the new catalog was crafted from the same real materials used to build the shoes. It recaptured the proper tone and spirit. It served to reinvigorate the loyal Birkenstock wearer and existing retailers. And it helped the sales force better define the brand and its place to their customers as distribution expanded into more mass channels.
Featuring just-post-pubescent pop-throbs Paramore on its cover and some of the best copy, photography and design in the whole world of rock criticism, the third annual Hard Rock Annual arrived in subscriber mailboxes in mid-February bound into copies of Rolling Stone and Spin.
Engineered to start arguments, inspire musical exploration and generally connect the Hard Rock brand to the rock of today, the Annual ignited its first controversy even before subscription copies were mailed, when one artist, receiving his or her preview edition, wasn’t entirely sure if the (admittedly over-written) verbiage inside was indeed positive.
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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