Client: Blue Ribbon Diner
Project: Integrated Advertising & Brand Affinity Campaign
Role: Creative Director/Art Director
The Dirty Dog & Friends:
A Diner for Families, Too
With jukeboxes and juice boxes, the fresh face(s) of Blue Ribbon Diner welcome a new generation of customers in Burlington, NC.
This piece won a GOLD American Advertising Award at the 2023 “ADDYs” Awards Gala for the Cross-Platform Integrated Brand Identity Campaign category, as well as BEST IN SHOW for the AAF Triangle chapter’s student division. Additionally, this piece won the GOLD Award at the 2023-2024 AEJMC Festival of Visual and Interactive Media for the Small School (<10,000) Multimedia Advertising category.
Dirty Dog T-Shirt
For my first task as Creative Director at Live Oak Communications, I collaborated with the management team to devise a strategy that could bring a more family-friendly atmosphere to one of our most loyal clients, Blue Ribbon Diner. In the agency’s creative archives, I found an unfinished design that was left by former Live Oakers of a t-shirt concept personifying the Dirty Dog (a notorious menu item at BRD). After eagerly presenting the concept to the Account Team, and later to the client, everyone was excited by the idea to finally have merchandise introduced to the restaurant. I edited the original design to get it ready for production by cleaning up some of the lines and patterns, as well as changing the color scheme to match the client’s current brand standards. By the end of the semester, we were able to produce the first round of t-shirts to create the best holiday presents for loyal Blue Ribbon Diner customers.
But it didn't stop there. Jessi Jennings, my friend and peer on the Creative Team, expanded on the concept by designing some delightful cartoon-like characters inspired by other mouthwatering food and drinks at the restaurant. We used these assets to revamp the client’s Kids Menus, produce an array of more enticing merchandising items to match the new t-shirts, and plan an exciting (and appetizing) photoshoot. So, buckle up, because the drool-worthy designs at the Blue Ribbon Diner campaign are set to leave an indelible mark on the hearts of customers and their families.
The following work was produced by Patrick Hanrahan, Taylor Truitt, Olivia Parks, Matt Newberry, and Caroline Mitchell.
A Happy Creative Director
The Comfort Colors shirts were printed by Humbly Made, a North Carolina-based company that specializes in eco-friendly inks and production processes.
Merchandise and Outdoor Advertising
To further expand upon the characters that Jessi designed and explore the full reach of what this campaign could accomplish, my first task as Creative Director was to brainstorm with the team about how we could bring these creations to life. We collaborated to discuss the background inspiration for the Dirty Dog & Friends gang, such as their unique names and quirky personalities in this new BRD world. We settled on five characters: The Dirty Dog, Betty Burger, Lucy Lemonade, Murray Milkshake, and Spud. I split our Creative Team in half, assigning four people to develop options for merch and five people to develop new Kids Menu designs. I art directed and managed this entire project, along with help from Jessi (now my Assistant Creative Director) and our Director of Creative Production who spent a lot of time working with local vendors to discuss the production of these various merch items. I also pulled assets from the various merchandise designs from one of our members on the Creative Team to craft the outdoor advertising concepts.
The following work was produced by Matt Newberry, Jessi Jennings, Caroline Mitchell, Clay Burns, Ella Henry, Garett Hozza, and Aidan Turner.
Kids Menu Redesign
Five members of the Creative Team collaborated to produce these three options for new Blue Ribbon Diner kids menus. With connect-the-dots versions of the Dirty Dog gang, a custom ketchup-y typeface, a new word search, and more, we presented these versions of the new kids menus to the client with the finalized Dirty Dog T-Shirt design. They loved them so much that they decided to use all three options at the restaurant, as these cohesive designs were created by using similar elements and assets from the entire team. Click here to see the outdated kids menu.
The following work was produced by Matt Newberry, Jessi Jennings, Caroline Mitchell, Liliana Kelson, Nick Edge, Anna Topfl, Jenna Mangan, and Ryan Margaret Lee.
Photoshoot
Our Production Team collaborated closely with this client’s Account Team to develop a photoshoot as a way to garner content for creative projects and social media, as well as showcase some new deliverables on-site. Scroll through some of the photos below.
The following work was produced by Matt Newberry, Caroline Mitchell, and Lucas Hozza.
Future Brand Development
Following these projects, our team continued to brainstorm ways to develop the BRD brand even further. A primary way we envisioned to modernize the restaurant for the future was to update the standard typefaces used for the client. These font families maintain the classic “diner” feel of the business while also providing a more dynamic energy to the work we create for them. I also envisioned the continued use of the cartoon characters that Jessi made in deliverables like table tents. These kinds of materials maintain the youthful energy the client hopes to boast through this family-friendly affinity campaign.
The following work was produced by Matt Newberry, Jessi Jennings, Caroline Mitchell, and Lucas Hozza.
