On June 11, TCU Baseball punched a ticket to their 4th consecutive College World Series. To break it down for you, they have finished their season on the field in Omaha in 2014, 2015, 2016 and now 2017. We are beyond proud of our client’s achievements but also honored to work with such and elite program with tremendous character.
Since 2014 (notice a theme?), we have partnered with TCU Baseball and head coach, Jim Schlossnagle, to create a video that embodies the brand of the program and establishes a tone for the upcoming season. We bring to life the vision that the coaching staff establishes each day, on and off the field.
They started the 2017 campaign with a pre-season No. 1 national ranking and Coach Schloss challenged his team to rise to the ranking. This year’s video, Work Wins, illustrates the truth that working hard is how you set yourself up to win games. Each player must physically and objectively work out a win each day. No superstitions. No momentum. Victory is found in the details, the routine, the compounding choices and the mindset.
Our job doesn’t stop with the finished product. Just like anything we create, we fight to make sure it performs. And this video has really caught hold. Over the course of the season (February – May) here’s a few stats:
The Story
Beastro has a way of bringing out your wild side. The Fort Worth Zoo continues to give adults (over the age of 21) the chance to experiment with different flavors from various food and beverage booths, and live music entertainment for the 11th year in a row. The Work
Last year, Beastro sold out for the first time ever. The goal this year was to draw newcomers into the excitement the event has to offer, and also encourage those who have attended before to come back!
This year, the event tailored itself to a Rock and Roll theme. The team used a black and white image of a roaring lion as the event icon and paired a tagline of “Sink your teeth into…Beastro!” The intensity between the loud, bold colors of the script and tagline set over the black and white image, lended itself to an intense, high-energy environment.
The Hurst Conference Center website redesign brings an air of elegance to the venue. Currently catering to corporate meeting planners, social event coordinators and brides-to-be, the website needed to provide specific information that was relevant to each target audience. This was achieved through intuitive navigation and individualized content.
The website leads with beautiful photography of the venue and, most notably, their fiber-optic chandelier. The refreshed design reflects high-end clientele and more aptly represents the quality of service the Hurst Conference Center offers.
Utilizing grid structures for organizational clarity, every aspect of the redesign provides a hassle-free planning process for potential clients. Each interior page has responsive menus that display room capacities, technical offerings and floor plans. With all the details carefully thought out, the quality of online service now mirrors the level of customer service the Hurst Conference Center provides.
Ghouls, Goblins… Gorillas? For many Halloween events, the goal is to frighten the audience enough to draw them to see the main course. But the Fort Worth Zoo has a 20-year tradition of tickling the terror out of Halloween, with Boo at the Zoo.
Boo at the Zoo is a kid-centric Halloween event where you can trick-or-treat for candy among animal friends. This year’s event had: carnival games, treat stations, stage shows, Wild Encounters (the zoo’s ongoing animal handlers with friendly critters) and a pumpkin patch .
The campaign features a fun play on the classic Halloween candy. Its unique visual solution highlights the Zoo event that entertains sugar-crazed kids every year. We created a direct mail, outdoor billboard, bus bench, email, print and radio ads, and display campaign.
Our Boo at the Zoo efforts led to an:
Situation:
The Fort Worth Zoo, one of the top 5 zoos in the country, is undertaking a massive expansion campaign, with the goal of raising $100 million dollars to expand the park. The expansion will include new exhibit space, renovated habitats, special events space, multiple dining areas, and most importantly, new ways to observe, interact with and learn about animals. The expansion will guarantee for future generations the survival of many endangered species.
Opportunity:
The Zoo needed a clever solution to bring this capital initiative campaign to life to the Fort Worth and surrounding communities. Haha Haha was tasked with developing an integrated media strategy and creative campaign to drive awareness, engagement, ambassadorship and donations.
Approach:
On September 12, Fort Worth got water-colored. The Fort Worth Zoo kicked off the public phase of its $100 million capital campaign by promoting splashes of color all over the city. For 5 weeks, the community chattered with speculation on what this “advertising as art” represented. The campaign evolved over the following weeks, with each phase revealing a little bit more of the campaign. Culminating with a launch event for community leaders, the campaign revealed the public-facing fundraising effort.
Campaign Goals:
Generate awareness of “A Wilder Vision,” the Fort Worth Zoo’s plans for significant expansion over the next 8 years.
Drive donations from the Dallas-Fort Worth Community.
Drive web traffic to the Zoo’s giving site in order to generate excitement and process donations.
Results:
Our reporting approach consisted of consolidating data from multiple sources such as social media platforms, display networks, and external and internal email platforms for a multi-phased campaign approach. By making continuous optimizations throughout the campaign, we were able to drive the below performance wins.
In the quiet phase, the Zoo raised approximately $90 million of the $100 million goal, with the public facing campaign focused on generating the remaining $10 million. The campaign continued until the end of November and will begin again in FY2017.
98
Display engagement rates above the industry benchmarks
164
Increase in traffic, from Phase 1 to Phase 2
84
Lift in impressions from Phase 1 to Phase 2
41
Increase in web sign-ups from Phase 1 to Phase 2
15
Above industry performance benchmark open rates for email
Two years ago we reintroduced a 100-year-old cheer back into popularity among the TCU faithful and the Fort Worth community alike.
This cheer has soaked into the collective TCU community and is now a highlight of the TCU fan experience. It’s a part of student orientation, a staple across social media and tailgate talk, and has spread wildly thoughout merchandise. With this strong endorsement building year after year, it is humbling to see the “fire” we started in partnership with TCU Athletics in 2014.
When TCU looked to us to bring a 3rd rendition of the in-game video to life, we looked no further than the fans themselves. This year we filmed the very fabric of this spirited, TCU fan base. 120 people to be exact. We weaved together 3 unique edits of the cheer and told a collective story for each and every home TCU football game.
We brought in TCU and Fort Worth heroes and kept the anticipation of the surprise ending in each game.
This year the video has been finished out by the likes of TCU Alumni Trevone Boykin, Bram Kolhausen, Aaron Green, Olympians and Bob Lilly. Each one delivering the final line, “Give ‘em Hell, TCU!”
With a few games left in this season, we know there is a whole lot of fight left in the Frogs. And after you watch this video, you’ll see the fans aren’t done yet either! Save
If you live in DFW, you’re most likely familiar with the Fort Worth Zoo and may be familiar with their largest annual fundraiser, Zoo Ball. Every year Zoo Ball attracts some of the biggest names in the area to support the Zoo’s local and international wildlife conservation and education efforts. The invitation for the event has always been closely tied to the theme; i.e. last year’s Zoo Ball at the Flamingo or the previous year’s Festival of the Elephants. The theme and focus of this year’s event was to celebrate the 15th anniversary of Texas Wild!, a portion of the Zoo that exhibits our great state’s different regional landscapes and wildlife.
Instead of the black tie formal-wear of years past—in the words of Alan Jackson–“We’re goin’ country!” And with a performance from Clint Black, Zoo Ball was set to be a cowboy cocktail-themed success. Our minds immediately went to the honky-tonk wood floors of Gruene Hall and Nashville-inspired Hatch Show Prints. So with the direction of “Big Hair, Boots, and Beers,” our team went on its westward way.
Process
Our hearts were set on creating a distinctly Zoo deliverable with the romance and heritage of wood block letterpress. Letterpress, simply explained, is pressing ink onto paper via wood, metal or hand carved letters and images. This process dominated commercial printing from the 1400’s to the mid-twentieth century. In today’s digital era, this process is celebrated for it’s unmatched nuance of color and texture.
To produce our limited edition set of prints, we sought out Minnesota-based premium letterpress studio, Studio On Fire. After following (and admiring) their work from afar, we were excited to partner with them for the project. With their help, our vision for the western-inspired prints came to life, complete with a blind emboss of the Fort Worth Zoo logo and hand-numbering of each print.
We created three custom illustrations that combined cowboy regalia with exotic wildlife found in the Fort Worth Zoo, bringing together the key elements of the event. These illustrations were paired with wood block-styled type, set to mimic posters of old. We created three “sayings” for the print set:
Deep in the Heart of Texas Wild! Long Necks Ain’t Nothin’
Without Rednecks Big Hair, Boots & Beer
Results
The final invitation is truly a complete package. An oversized envelope features a rustic Texas flag and warns ‘Don’t Bend or Fold or Mess with Texas’. Custom postage features animal illustrations and the Zoo logo. A hand-crafted pattern featuring Texas sayings, Clint Black lyrics, Fort Worth nods and custom animal illustrations floods the insert upon opening. And finally the prints are secured by a custom bellyband with event details and slip-sheeted for safety.
The event sold out of tickets and was both appropriately rowdy and respected. Even with fears of rain, the Zoo reassured its patrons: a little weather can’t stop our boot-scootin’ and tequila-shootin’.
Remember when we developed a unique brand and identity for the Hurst Conference Center’s bridal market, Lumiere Ballroom? We’ve continued to promote this unique positioning to the local bridal market through both traditional and non-traditional means. The goal of our most recent campaign was simple: book more tours. We knew that by viewing the venue, with it’s simple elegance and central location, wedding and reception bookings would increase. Through a digital campaign, we geo-targeted brides with the message ‘Cheers to You!’ in celebration of their engagement and the excitement to come on the big day. By booking a tour with the Hurst Conference Center, couples would receive a complimentary champagne flute set.
Developing the custom packaging came with it’s own set of challenges. Functionally, it needed to be collapsible, easy to assemble and structurally sound. There may (or may not) have been a few flute casualties in the development phase, but through trial, error and a little paper engineering, we created a carrier that met all requirements.
The flute packaging was constructed with Neenah folding board and stamped with holographic foil. The silver-based, rainbow hue mimics the iconic fiber optic star-field chandelier, making it a perfect solution to bring the abstracted Lumiere Ballroom logo to life. Since holographic foil happened to be on our design bucket list, we killed two birds with one, err, rainbow. Upon receiving the first press sheets, giddy excitement and dancing in the sunlight ensued.
Since you may not be able to see it in person, check out the foil in action above.
On the heels of our spring campaign launch, that introduced Gus, the baby gorilla to the world, we are proud to showcase our new TV spot for the Fort Worth Zoo. This spot is a 30 second summary highlighting the fun, educational and majestic moments that happen everyday at the zoo. With over 400 different species of animals, 15 different exhibits and attractions, it’s an experience that changes with every visit.
Over two days, we filmed all-new footage throughout the zoo and captured special moments from over 15 different exhibits and attractions including everyone’s favorite, baby Gus.
Projects like this one allow us to immerse ourselves in our client’s world as well as the experience of their customers. We learn as we explore and we look for unique ways to tell a story that people can relate to. Its a challenge that we embrace and let’s be honest, we have a lot of fun with it too.
Explore these interactive 360 videos/photos by clicking on the image and dragging around. Its a unique perspective of what its like on set.
This year marks the 10th anniversary of Beastro, the Fort Worth Zoo’s annual music and tasting event that supports local and international wildlife conservation and education efforts. Within a few weeks of this year’s campaign going live, Fort Worth’s wild side responded with record breaking ticket sales and a fastest ever, sold out VIP offering.
The event features the finest area restaurants stationed throughout the Zoo, serving sample appetizers, entrees and desserts. In addition to the delectable cuisine, the event features open bars throughout the park and live music entertainment. Several animal exhibits remain open until sunset. This year’s entertainment features the local talents of: Emerald City, The Project and Live 80.
The event sold out, for the first time ever, and we had to stop the ad campaign early. The night was a success from ticket sales, but our team also successfully enjoyed the feast with the beasts.
