Misc.:

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.

www.perdomocigars.com

Miami HEAT Web Re-design

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.

www.heat.com

Southern Brand Collective was recently commissioned to design and produce a limited edition hand-pulled silk screen poster to commemorate the 35th anniversary of the Rumble In The Jungle. The 1974 bout in Kinshasa, Zaire between Muhammad Ali and then Heavyweight Champ George Foreman which introduced the “Rope-A-Dope” to the world. A dream project, as we are huge admirers of the man and his history. The resulting 250 hand-numbered posters will be available exclusively at ali.com.

Art Direction: Manny Fabian, Umbee Abeja
Screen Printing: Iron Forge Press

It’s Playoff time! In an effort to activate the fans and turn the HEAT’s home court into the toughest place in the NBA for opposing teams to play, we are once again calling on the faithful to dress in black and come on out and rock the rafters! Here’s the presentation for this year’s Miami HEAT Playoff campaign.

In 2008, following the season ending injury to superstar, D. Wade and the trade of Shaquille O’Neal, the HEAT limped to their worst finish in franchise history. The fickle South Florida fan base jumped off the bandwagon as fast as they had jumped on. And the question on everyone’s lips was: “why should I care about the HEAT?”

The team needed to re-energize and reconnect with their fan base and give them a reason to believe again and to take an interest. Southern Brand Collective convinced the HEAT to face the problem head-on and positioned the team behind the idea that they had something to prove.

Something To Prove.

In this precarious but hopeful position we launched a unifying, multi-platform campaign that spoke to the human element of “something to prove” in all of us. This messaging resonated not only with the HEAT faithful but it engaged the doubters in a frank and intriguing way. And it ultimately served as a rallying point for the team and the entire HEAT organization – from ticket sales to customer service.

Online we created something2prove.com - a cost-effective, fully-interactive micro-site where HEAT fans as well as doubters could sound off on HEAT happenings, post videos, comments and more. We also created a cohesive radio, TV, print and outdoor campaign that drove to the site and ultimately drove sales. We set the bar for online advertising within the sports industry with an integrated online campaign that focused on highly segmented targeting and retargeting and incorporated animated banners and google ad words to great effect. We utilized twitter, facebook and message boards to reach more HEAT fans and greatly increase the online presence of the team. We created “digital shorts” that were used as rich media ads online and ultimately distributed virally between fans. We also created additional revenue streams for the HEAT organization through custom merchandise and corporate sponsorship opportunities for fan giveaways under the “Something To Prove” umbrella. And we infused the “Something To Prove” messaging into everything from direct marketing to in-game entertainment.

Campaign Results.

The HEAT experienced the largest increase in year over year ticket sales in the NBA.  And by integrating all these mediums, we created a unified brand message so powerful that it resonated even after the season ended - and resulted in a 78% Season Ticket renewal rate despite the coinciding economic downturn.

Southern Brand recently created some digital shorts for the Miami HEAT featuring rookies Michael Beasley and Mario Chalmers goofing on their “new guy” status and the fact that neither suffers from a lack of self-confidence. The Chalmers spot was a spoof on D. Wade’s Robbins, IL spot for Converse and the OTB spot was just Beasley being Beasley. Originally slated for internet only, the spots ran on HEAT.com and something2prove.com and after audience response, were re-cut to run as :30’s during game broadcasts.

Southern Brand recently put together some pro bono work for S2BN Entertainment and the Hudson River Sloop Clearwater. Founded by legendary folk singer and activist Pete Seeger, the sloop Clearwater is the centerpiece of Clearwater’s public education programs. Clearwater is a 106-foot wooden sailing sloop designed after 18th and 19th century Dutch sailing sloops. In 1966, Seeger had the vision that the public would come to care for all of our threatened waterways by learning to care for one boat and one river. He inspired a group of dedicated people who made the dream a reality. Launched in 1969, Clearwater serves as a moveable classroom, laboratory, stage, and forum. More than a dozen national and international programs have successfully modeled programs after those pioneered by Clearwater.

Each year, Clearwater accommodates nearly 13,000 children and adults for education sails that teach history, biology, and environmental science and navigation along the Hudson River, New York Harbor and Long Island Sound. Thousands more are reached through on-land classroom visits, field programs and public exhibits. (more)

The work was for the Clearwater Benefit Concert To Celebrate Pete Seeger’s Life & Legacy at Madison Square Garden on May 3rd. 

Concept Boards // Photography courtesy of Annie Liebovitz // Additional photo credit: Corbis/Christopher Felver

When developer Henry Harper was creating The Filling Station, his vision was to bring cutting-edge, authentic New York-style loft living to South Florida, but he feared his vision would get lost in the ‘condo-ad-shuffle’ of cookie-cutter magazine ads where scantily clad women look longingly at their poolside reflections. Wanting to reach several demographics including moneyed out-of-towners looking for a living space in Miami, and Miami’s ultra-hip new players, he turned to Southern Brand Collective to get his message in front of the right people. from the start it was clear, traditional media vehicles would not resonate with the desired demographic that Harper had in mind.

SBC first crafted untraditional advertising that truly reflected the developer’s vision, and our next job was getting folks talking about it. We wanted to get across the feeling of NYC circa 1977. Party people going places on the D train. Harring, J.M. and Schnabel. B-Boying and Graf Writers. The Roots of Hip. The Ground Floor.

A sophisticated but basically grassroots way of marketing to a specific group of people, or ‘narrowcasting’ was employed. We sent out street teams to high profile events that attract hip consumers. Events like Art Basel and the White Party. We knew who we had to get in front of, but we had fairly little time to do it, so we hit the streets.

SBC equipped street teams with a collection of kitschy novelty items featuring simply a web address (http://www.fillingstationmiami.com), and an assortment of brief messages (“Monster Chic”, “Tall, Bright and Handsome”, “Ultra-Ultra Lofties”, “Slogan”, etc.) meant to pique interest. The items featured over 25 different designs, all driving traffic to the web address but more importantly building talk and curiosity about The Filling Station.

Shortly after that, SBC distributed 5,000 copies of “Life-Size”, an oversized magazine named for the loft’s 18-foot ceilings. This opened a new avenue for The Filling Station to pitch their messages while creating genuinely interesting reading.

Featuring fiction, DVD, CD and book reviews (as well as info about the building itself) this free standing marketing tool also relates back to the promotional items by including design elements from those pieces to create an integrated vision. And at the same time generate a real working magazine/oversize newspaper, albeit one with a one-of-a-kind, Filling Station point of view.

“It helps when the client is adventurous as this one is” says agency founder Chris Romero. “The Filling Station is a great client who wants to do great things…we found ways to do just that. The work is phenomenal and gratifying—and as it turned out, was more economical than going the traditional routes. we set our goals early and accomplished some aspect of those goals every step of the way. That’s not the norm down here…it’s very good. We twisted the category and found a fresh approach.”
With the goal of getting The Filling Station on everyone’s lips and generating buzz, the campaign was a resounding success. Less than a month after the launch and well before the grand opening, over 70% of the building (which started at $400,000) was sold out.

After the 2005-06 Championship Season, the Miami HEAT tapped Southern Brand to redesign the player’s areas and locker room as well as create a museum quality tribute to the team’s first NBA Championship. A mix of Pat Riley’s inspirational mantras and floor to ceiling depictions of pivotal moments in the HEAT’s run to its first title now define the team’s inner sanctum. Part museum, part motivational tool, the result has been dubbed “Championship Alley” and has set the standard in the NBA while serving as a showpiece for AmericanAirlines Arena.

“I wanted the players to have a Championship locker facility. All the images and changes they see, they’ll know why they were made and what it looked and felt like to win the title.”
– Pat Riley

Recently Gatorade signed on to be the exclusive corporate sponsor of Championship Alley, creating a new revenue stream for the HEAT.

With 2.4 million residents, Miami-Dade ranks as one of the largest and most ethnically diverse counties in the entire U.S. Unfortunately, it also ranks as one of the poorest and most under-educated. To improve early childhood education, the United Way and The Early Childhood Initiative Foundation joined forces to launch the “Teach More. Love More.” program.

With a simple yet profoundly important message at its heart, it was decided that billboard advertising should be the campaign’s major messenger. The boards juxtaposed thought-provoking messages of proper parenting with tight black & white photography of young children.

The campaign was very successful, increasing website hits by inquisitive young parents and greatly improving overall awareness of the initiative.

Nestled between Naples and Fort Myers on Florida’s west coast, Bonita Bay offers 2,400 acres of gorgeous homes and breathtaking natural surroundings. But while Bonita Bay’s developers trumpeted the environmentally friendly aspects of its community, the public remained skeptical about any construction in an unspoiled area.

Print and television executions were created, showcasing the synthesis of natural and man-made beauty within Bonita Bay.

The campaign was a tremendous success, helping to quickly sell out all available inventory and winning a National Addy Award for Best Multimedia Campaign.

Work created for Tinsley Advertising