Southern Brand is excited to unveil websites for Perdomo Cigars and the Miami HEAT.
Perdomo Cigars
When Perdomo Cigars came to us with their ideas for an expansive, new online presence, we were truly impressed with their passion and commitment to their craft. In designing their content-rich, interactive site we wanted to communicate the three distinct pillars on which the Perdomo brand has been built: quality, tradition and excellence. Their authentic approach to the cigar making process and their unparalleled attention to detail from seed to smoke is second-to-none and provided the perfect platform for the site. Likewise, their rich history and commitment to family, which includes their employees and longtime clients, provided the landscape for the content and interactive blog portion of the site. The end goal was to make the Perdomo experience online, as enjoyable as the cigars themselves.
Just in time to greet the much-buzzed about “3 Kings of South Beach,” Southern Brand worked with longtime client the Miami HEAT, as well as the NBA to create a new look and improved functionality for the Miami HEAT website.
SBC wins National Addy for Riley Hall of Fame Induction Booklet
We’re not ones to toot our own horn, but we’re proud of the hard work we do (and it’s nice to have someone else toot it once in a while), so…(cue the ZZ Top)
Southern Brand won a Gold ADDY for Book Design for Pat Riley’s Hall of Fame Induction Booklet at the 2010 National ADDY Awards. Toot Toot!
Entitled “Pat Riley: The Player. The Coach. The Person. The Hall of Famer.”, the induction booklet chronicles the life and career of the HEAT President. The book features rarely seen childhood and family photos and the most memorable images from his days playing and coaching in the NBA, an era spanning almost 40 years. It also has several unique design features such as oversized player cards and a mini Sports Illustrated cover, which are creatively inserted into the pages’ pockets. This was more than a project for us, it was an honor. Made even more special with this recognition.
“Simply stated, Southern Brand is the best in the business,” said HEAT Executive Vice President, Chief Marketing Officer Michael McCullough. “They have been an integral part of developing the HEAT brand for over 12 years, so this award is not only a testament to their creativity and the quality of their work, but an affirmation of the power and success of our long-standing professional relationship.”
That’s Manny & Kyle rockin’ the hardware. Jump down two posts to see the work.
In preparation for the most significant off-season in team history, Southern Brand Collective worked with the Miami HEAT to unveil “We Want Wade” – an interactive, community-wide campaign aimed at keeping six-time All-Star Dwyane Wade in a Miami HEAT uniform. Check out wewantwade.com and get yourself a free fan kit. Billboards and grassroots initiatives will follow. Check out what the press had to say. ESPNMiami HeraldSun-SentinelSports Illustrated
With over 60,000 entries annually, the ADDY® Awards are the world’s largest advertising competition. And since last year allowed us to produce some work we were real proud of, we decided to enter 10 of our favorite pieces – and 9 of the 10 won!
The work ranged from our buzzed-about HEAT Billboard that kicked off the ’09-’10 season calling out the “Doubters”, to our own company store website. We were even nominated for “Best of Show” for the book we created for Pat Riley commemorating his Hall of Fame Induction.
Click above image to see gallery of work.
Best of Show Nominee
Pat Riley Hall of Fame Induction Book
Gold Addy’s
Pat Riley Hall of Fame Induction Book
HEAT Doubters Billboard
Miami HEAT Blue Note Campaign
Miami HEAT Blue Note Photography
Miami HEAT 09-10 Brand ID Photography
North Mississippi Allstars ‘Snakes’ Poster
Silver Addy’s
D. Wade Good Enough Ain’t Enough :30 TV Spot
Filling Station ‘Stupid’ Print Ad
Southern Brand.com Website
To accompany this year’s HEAT intro video, we created a series of Blue Note inspired “vintage album covers” to be used as sponsored giveaways for the fans at home games. The artwork will also be used for in-game graphics, on the arena’s new MediaMesh, as well as web graphics and computer & smartphone wallpapers. So kick back in your beanbag, slip on the headphones and take a gaze at the smooth visual stylings of the gallery above.
Art Direction:Manny “Fresh” Fabian Moral Support & All-Around Awesomeness:Tara “Groovy” Graber
For the last 11 years, Southern Brand Collective has helped the Miami HEAT set the standard for intro videos within the sports and entertainment industry - and this year was no exception. It started as a “simple” idea over a brainstorming session with HEAT Executive Marketing VP Michael McCullough (a music aficionado and avid vinyl collector) who wanted to do a “Blue Note” inspired look. It became, as they do every year, the benchmark for the NBA.
After creating mood boards & designing type treatments, we enlisted the help and cred of director Gil Green - known best for his work on videos for artists like Lil Wayne, Usher, Lil Jon, Akon, Rick Ross, Drake, Flo Rida and DMX as well as TV commercials for And 1. The final stylish touches came courtesy of Wade’s own professional stylist Calyann Barnett. The result is a 1-minute intro video that doesn’t just raise the bar - it pushes team intros to a whole new level that has other teams talking and even left the seasoned director with goosebumps. “I think the first time I saw it was opening night against the Knicks,” Green said. “I think that was the first time they used the new Jumbotron with high def. I got chills from watching it. I mean 10,000 to 15,000 fans screaming their heads off is very exciting and something totally new for me.”
The fan and internal reaction was great, so we took the rich, moody Blue Note look and made collectible album covers, wallpapers and merch for HEAT fans to dig. “We like to make our guys seem larger than life,” said HEAT Executive Marketing VP Michael McCullough, “Kind of like rock stars, or in this case, cool jazz icons.”
This idea started with last season’s Something To Prove Campaign and Dwyane speaking directly to the doubters. We wanted to continue that theme because it really resonated - not only with the team but with the fans. The job of this board was to start the conversation again. Get people talking. And smiling. The team proved a lot last season, especially Wade, but the detractors are still there. It’s in D.Wade’s DNA - he’s had doubters his whole career and he’s continually proven them wrong. Really to the point where it’s hard to doubt that man anymore. But Miami is a fickle town so we wanted to drawn a line in the sand. You’re either with the HEAT or you’re not. And we wanted to have some fun with it.
The original plan was to build a 40’ trough behind the bird silhouettes and fill it with bird seed to attract real birds as well. But there were some health safety concerns regarding the clean-up and the billboard company wasn’t comfortable doing that. So we did the next best thing and designed it to look as realistic as possible while exaggerating the size of the birds so they’d be readable from a distance while not being too big and cartoon-like. And it ended up attracting real birds anyway. Obviously HEAT fans.
We applaud the HEAT and specifically Michael McCullough, the CMO for lettin’ us do it. I’m sure it sounded a little crazy when we presented the idea - it’s not often you get to say “we’re gonna put more and more bird sh*t on your advertising” to a client - but he got behind it from the beginning. And it sets the tone for this year’s positioning. Wade played good enough last season to lead the league in scoring. The team played good enough to make the playoffs. Good enough to get people talking. Good enough to prove the doubters wrong…but good enough ain’t enough. Additional outdoor executions as well as TV, radio, print and online will support the campaign.
This season we unveiled the Miami HEAT positioning statement “Good Enough Ain’t Enough” - and that sentiment didn’t just apply on the court. Utilizing our versatile and “local celebrity” Dancers, we evolved the traditional and already highly-sought-after HEAT Dancer poster into a jaw-dropping, full-color, premium magazine.
Shot on-location at The Epic Hotel in downtown Miami, the HEAT Dancer magazine included the annual poster featuring bikini-clad dancers as well as individual shots of each girl in evening wear. This unique and novel approach to the traditional poster not only created an additional revenue stream for the HEAT group but also generated excellent PR and special event opportunities.
Last season, the HEAT played good enough to turn some heads, and break some records. Good enough to have the biggest increase in individual seat sales in the NBA. They played good enough to win 43 games, good enough to make the playoffs, good enough to earn some respect and good enough to get ‘em talking.
But, good enough ain’t enough.
Click the image above to see the presentation boards for the upcoming season.
