TRACTION

TRACTION IS A SMALL BUT POWERFUL CREATIVE SHOP IN OKC. We’re digitally enabled, marketing minded, and creatively inspired. This is where we share what's going on around the office, and the way we do things.

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The result of some very scrumptious website planning. Gluten free, of course. #scrumboard #webdesign #webdevelopment #okc

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We've been doing all kinds of fun stuff with @bcclarkjewelers for their sponsorship of @okcpopups. This week, BC Clark is in the dome with all kinds of great gift items. And a brand new Jingle tee! Head on down to #midtownokc for some #popupshop action!

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Warehouse turned office turned studio. #swissarmybuilding

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After-hours shoot going on tonight with the @bcclarkjewelers guys. Almost ready for the holidays.

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Photo & video shoot in Houston kicked off tonight with a beautiful backdrop. What will tomorrow hold? #setlife

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Happy 20th birthday, @earlsribpalace! #Earls20th #ThisIsOklahomaBBQ

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Powerful shot from last night's #alzheimers shoot. #endalz

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We converted the warehouse into a makeshift production studio last night for a doubleheader video shoot, kicking off a couple projects we took on with Alzheimer's Association Oklahoma Chapter. It's time to start editing.

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Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma has been producing Broadway-caliber shows for Oklahoma audiences since 1963. In recent years, they've responded to changing audiences with a new wave of innovative productions, and, in doing so, have set the bar for community theatre along the way.

It was time their logo followed suit.

For years, Lyric’s logo has actually been four logos, with one version serving as their main logo, another marking their Plaza shows, a third designating their Civic Center productions, and a fourth representing the Thelma Gaylord Academy.

To make things even more complex, each version incorporated a distinctive color palette that did not align with Lyric’s primary purple and light blue colors.

After six years of juggling multiple marks and the array of colors that came with them, we stepped back and starting planning a new logo that both simplifies and evolves the brand.

Our goal was to create an identifying mark that:

Pays homage to Broadway’s iconic design aesthetic

Speaks to Lyric’s community roots

Embodies an epic night of epic entertainment

Remains modern, bold, and readable at all sizes

Reflects the look and feel of the new website

Has the strength and recognizability to stand on its own  

With those objectives in mind, our creative team drew back the curtains, rolled up their sleeves, and got to work. 

Absent from the new logo are the intricacies of the star icon and the multi-hued shadows. In their place is a single, font-based mark that organically responds to the environment in which it’s placed - from print to desktop to mobile to social media icon.

In addition to developing a new logo, we also seized the opportunity to create a mini campaign and brand video (featuring the voice of Lyric Artistic Director Michael Baron) as its delivery vehicle. Both of which were unveiled before a select audience at Lyric’s Broadway and Brew event on Friday, May 6.

The result of this project is a brand mark that effortlessly represents Lyric Theatre’s 50-year history and its vision for the future. 

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This June, Earl’s Rib Palace is turning 20. 

In two short decades, Earl’s has established itself as a staple for local foodies, out-of-towners, and BBQ connoisseurs alike.

In the last couple of months, we’ve had the privilege of jumping on their BBQ bandwagon to launch a new Earl’s website and build a new brand platform and branding campaign. And because timing is everything, we now get to help them celebrate 20 years of being OKC’s favorite BBQ restaurant.

Each year, Earl’s puts out a pretty incredible hand-illustrated design to celebrate their anniversary (which was already in the works before we struck up our friendship a couple of months ago). With this existing “BBQ Before All” artwork at our disposal, we will be flooding social media, radio, print and outdoor all June long in celebration of the birth of Oklahoma BBQ. 

Wanna see Earl’s current weekly special, and their ongoing monthly specials? Put on your party hat and head over to EarlsRibPalace.com/Anniversary

So be on the lookout the next 30 days for smoking hot creative and smoking hot specials, like the ongoing 20 for 20th Anniversary Special ($20 for 1.5lb of meat & two pints of sides) and original 1996 pricing on their weekly specials.

Earl’s will also be partnering with COOP Ale Works to offer the $5 COOP and Koozie Special ($5 for a COOP Spare Rib Pale Ale and anniversary koozie). And to cap off the month-long celebration, all six locations will be serving up FREE birthday cake to restaurant goers all day on June 25th.

So here’s what it comes down to… For the entire month of June, we get to write about, tweet about, dream about, and eat great Oklahoma BBQ. What can we say, the ad business can be tough to swallow sometimes.

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In case we haven’t introduced you yet, the guy with the corndog mustache is Quint Anderson. He’s also one of our account execs. Which means if you’re a Traction client, or a potential client, there’s a good chance that your main contact at Traction is a guy with a fried wiener on a stick for a mustache.

Whether you find fair fare faux facial hair appetizing or not, we’re here to tell you that Quint is the guy around here that makes things happen – for us and his clients. And luckily for Oklahoma City Ad Club, they’re about to get a whole lot of Quint and his making things happen-ness.

Because starting now, Quint is one of Ad Club’s new board members, and another in a long line of Tractioneers who have served in the same role.

Congrats on the new responsibility, Quint. Make us proud, and make some things happen.

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Must Love Design | Traction

Hey there. We're actively looking to add another designer to our team.

At Traction, a designer is never really just a designer. Our designers are problem solvers, brainstormers, planners, and collaborators. Around here, we don’t segregate by title or experience. We don’t believe in Seniors or Juniors or Production-ors. 

We do, however, believe in talent, and work ethic, and teamwork, and structure, and the desire to master new areas of your craft.

So, if you’re a designer of handsome things that have purpose, and you don’t really care what the title on your business card says as long as you get to roll up your sleeves and Create Something More, the empty seat in the design loft may just have your name all over it.

Tell us who you are and why Traction would be crazy not to hire you.

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Earl’s Rib Palace + Brand Platform + Website + Campaigns

Here at Traction, we’ve had the good fortune of cultivating an active client list that includes some of the most revered and longest-running companies in our market. Names like BC Clark Jewelers, Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma, Allied Arts, The Skirvin Hilton, and Dunlap Codding are always fun to drop when people ask us who some of our clients are.

The newest addition to that list is Earl’s Rib Palace, the consensus pick for OKC’s best BBQ over the last 20 years.

Hoping to pro-up and maximize their marketing strategy leading into their 20th anniversary this June, and looking for a longterm marketing partnership, the Earl’s brass gave us a shout back in February to see what Traction was all about.

Thanks to a mutual respect for BBQ and creativity, the conversation casually evolved into a revelation that Earl’s needed not only a 20th anniversary campaign, but also a brand platform to define their voice and purpose, a branding campaign to deliver it, and a website to reinforce it.

With their June anniversary right around the corner, we quickly realized we were cramming a lot into a really small window. We also realized that anything is possible when you’re fueled by great BBQ.

In six short weeks, we conducted an intensive DIG Brand Discovery workshop, laid out a comprehensive brand platform, produced a branding campaign, developed a new website, and planned their 20th anniversary campaign.

EarlsRibPalace.com. This is Oklahoma BBQ.

Along the way, we ate BBQ, shot BBQ, dreamt BBQ, and defined Oklahoma BBQ. Not a bad month and a half, if you ask us.

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Every spring, Allied Arts fills the OKC Farmer’s Public Market with martinis and merrymaking during their annual ARTini fundraising event.

In early 2010, the ARTini board asked us if we’d like to create the logo and artwork for that year’s theme, “ARTini Time.” The feels we got just from giving a little bit of our time to help Allied Arts support the arts in OKC would have been payment enough for our creative services. But then they threw a handful of ARTini tickets at us, and we haven’t let go of the gig since.

Over the last six years and seven ARTinis, we’ve dabbled in deco, street, pop, and 8-bit artistry (to name just a few of the thematic styles), and tasted the martini manifestations of each. But more importantly, we’ve been blessed with the opportunity to help advance the arts in OKC.

We hope you enjoy this ‘tini tiny look back at ARTinis past while we wait for the next theme to roll around in early 2017.

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We Wish We Had Brainstormed That

We Wish We _______ That is a semi-regular blog series in which we feature a piece of creative we really wish had our name tacked to. It’s equal parts jealousy and applause.

It’s spring time! And in Oklahoma that means two things: storm season and NBA Playoffs (except for last year, but we don’t talk about that). So for this month’s installment of WWW_T, we decided to feature a very timely creation from the brains at RC. Art & Design Laboratory.

Feast your eyes (and ears for that matter) on the The Cloud, an Arduino-controlled, motion-triggered lightning & thunder performance, as well as a music-activated visualizing speaker.

Huh?

We’ll let the video explain.

According to RC, The Cloud employs embedded motion sensors to create unique lightning and thunder shows that mimic a thundercloud, while providing entertainment value and inspiring awe. 

Needless to say, this display would be the perfect man-cave accessory as we watch weather warnings scroll across the screen during Thunder playoff games.

Plus, we all want one hanging above our desks here at the Traction Warehouse. Just because we work in a windowless, concrete cave doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy the sites and sounds of springtime in Oklahoma!

Kudos to RC Lab, they’ve managed to capture lightning in a bottle with this one.

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Shooting an #AirTractor this morning during the #goldenhour.

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Shooting some overheads of @bcclarkjewelers tableware from their Life:Style department today.