Case Studies
Art On Wheels
First, Herd About Buffalo stampeded across the City of Buffalo. Three years later, Art On Wheels rolled out across a grander canvas – 57 sites across Erie and Niagara Counties. The common denominator for each of these exhibitions of art in public places was a logo, graphic identity, and sponsorship sales materials created by Flynn & Friends.
Besides the ground-floor work of coming up with the project name and look, we further helped Art On Wheels by writing and producing the pitch which took the $100,000, winner-take-all prize in the 21st Century Fund's biennial grant competition. Art On Wheel's project director was quoted afterwards as saying the win was "a huge boost for our project. It will help us get the story out to everybody."
This is the story of how we helped Art On Wheels get off to a honkin' good start.
Branding The Project
Art On Wheels started out all wrong. The project arrived bundled with an art world title: Cycle/Recycle: Artists Reinvent The Wheel. Contrast that with Herd About Buffalo: a short, easy to say, and memorable name. Our first task was to re-name the project. But first, a digression.
We tried to do a logo to fit the "Cycle/Recycle" name and it was a bust - except for one thing: the F&F creative team made a nice piece of art as part of the deal - the sculpture that's to the right. (This falls into the category of "Creative Stuff We Do That Isn't Exactly Advertising But Ends Up As Part Of It.") In case you can't make out exactly what "it" is, think painted bike seat and chain for kinky hair. End of digression.
Back to the story line. To better market the project (think simpler, better, way more sayable and far more memorable moniker) we came up with "Art On Wheels" as the handle, and it stuck, as did the logo we then produced to go with it.
Branding in place, it was now time to win the pitch.
Winning The Pitch
What's it like to win a six-figure prize for a client - In a word, fun.
Working with the team from the Burchfield-Penney Art Center and Materials Re-use Project (the co-presenters and not-for-profit beneficiaries of Art On Wheels), Flynn & Friends wrote and produced a live presentation for the 21st Century Fund of the Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo. The winner-take-all prize was $100,000.
Our process involved a lot of meetings in our conference room, a lot of coffee, a lot of Powerpoint design and programming, a lot of script writing, a lot of revising, more coffee, and a lot of rehearsing. Of course, $100,000 is a lot of money. We were all shaking when the big night arrived.
There we were, up against four other worthy projects, each of which held the promise of a better Buffalo. An audience of two hundred 21st Century Fund members would vote on which presentation was most compelling. A first round of voting left Art On Wheels and a second contestant in the semi-finals. A second round of voting produced a winner--and we were it! A lot of people said it was the combination of the writing, the Powerpoint presentation and the skill and polish of the project speakers that carried the day. We'll concur.
Winning the 21st Century Fund grant money gave Art On Wheels instant credibility--just what it needed to successfully undertake its next phase of sponsorship solicitation. Not coincidentally, Flynn & Friends continued its contribution to the project by further tailoring the 21st Century Fund Powerpoint presentation to a variety of potential corporate sponsors including car dealerships, financial institutions, and supermarkets.
And what do you do after you win something like that? Celebrate with champagne! It's capitalism at its finest!
The Point Of All This
The point of all this is that Flynn & Friends not only created a winning identity for Art On Wheels but also helped communicate and sell the essence of the project in a way that truly positioned it for success. And more importantly, the point is that we can do the same for you.
Launching a new product or service or creating a company from scratch requires a clear identity. Our success with Art On Wheels is a great example of how a strong, marketing-driven name and logo can contribute to that success.
Check out some other examples of Our Work. Give us a call or send us an email if you have any questions, comments, or would like to discuss your marketing direction. We look forward to hearing from you!
Our creative department created a work of art out of a bicycle seat (remember, it's art "on wheels") with kinked bike chain hair to serve as an early version of the logo.
The final logo.
Publicity from the 21st Century Fund victory.
And an all-purpose brochure to generate buzz for the exhibition was another of our deliverables.