UNC Charlotte asked Tattoo Projects to develop a branding campaign with the goal of generating awareness and pride around the UNC Charlotte experience.
A three-month, multi-department, 100+ person research study, indicated that applicants and alumni wanted UNC Charlotte to build up the heritage and tradition of the university and the city. Furthermore, students were frustrated that UNC Charlotte was easily confused with Chapel Hill. They wanted to distinguish their school and elevate its reputation.
Tattoo Projects developed a campaign that solved both of the university’s challenges. The campaign was teased with giant pickaxes stuck in billboards throughout Charlotte. The tagline “Stake Your Claim” evokes the heritage of Charlotte’s gold rush origins. It also positioned UNC Charlotte as North Carolina’s most ambitious university. An energetic opportunity-filled educational institution that is building something new rather than resting on past accomplishments.
The fully integrated campaign promoted UNC Charlotte’s ambition and accomplishments from television to print, digital, and Pickaxe press kits were hand delivered to all local news outlets.
“Stake Your Claim” was more than a tagline. It was a rallying cry for every department of the university, especially admissions and recruiting.
After establishing the credibility and accomplishments of UNC Charlotte’s students and professors, they wanted a purposeful yet relevant campaign that would appeal to the 17-year-old prospective student.
Research indicated that a well-branded mascot can be worth more than $10 million per year for a university. So we cast UNC Charlotte’s mascot for three TV spots, significantly increasing applications and brand awareness.
<p style="width: 50%;text-align:right;"> “The Stake Your Claim campaign will accentuate key brand attributes of UNC Charlotte: contemporary, assertive, confident, authentic, and decisive. Ads and other communication will highlight the University’s strengths in scholarship, research, arts and culture, athletics, and internationalization.” </p>
Sheetz’s mission is to give people time back to do more of the things they love. In honor of Global Pay It Forward Day, we helped Sheetz put their mission into action with the “Time Back” campaign.
Leveraging social listening tools, we scrubbed Sheetz social platforms to pinpoint Sheetz Freakz who had fallen on hard times.
We then worked with the brand’s executive team to vet stories, select recipients, and donate unprecedented prizes to Sheetz fans who simply need some time back.
We produced five beautiful videos of the in-person donations, telling each recipient’s story and showcasing their emotional reactions. On paid social, the videos drove visitors to a custom #TimeBack website, where we encouraged community members to pay it forward in their own lives.
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From financial aid and custom-wrapped vehicles to charitable donations and family vacations, Tattoo Projects tailored prizes to help each recipient make up for lost time and fulfill their dreams.
April’s business, Alexia’s Closet, had been severely damaged from major floods. Sheetz gifted her with a new car, $25,000 for her business, and a $5,000 donation to the American Heart Association in honor of her son.
An Associate Professor at St. Mary’s college of Maryland, Alan received a $25,000 donation to his school, a dream vacation to London, and a $2,500 Sheetz gift card to help fuel his students’ learning.
Todd Spurrier, a cancer survivor, runs a charity to raise awareness for the dangers of colorectal cancer. Sheetz surprised him with a $25,000 contribution to his charity, a custom-wrapped van, and a $500 Sheetz gift card.
Following a recent accident that totaled her car, Emily Spears was delighted to receive a brand-new car, $10,000 to help save homeless pets, and a dream vacation to Turks & Caicos.
Chris is a track & field coach at East Cary Middle School and a self-proclaimed Sheetz Freak. The brand surprised him with a $25,000 donation to his school’s athletic department, a new truck, and a free trip to the Sheetz headquarters.
“Standing behind our core values, we had a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to surprise a few of our lucky fans with more of the things they love in order to help them enjoy all of the time back they get from shopping at Sheetz.”
Ryan Sheetz,
AVP of Brand at Sheetz
Genesys Global™ is a lighting tech company proven to help businesses save millions on energy costs with their gLED™ and gHID™ lighting technologies.
When the company first approached us, they had their revolutionary technology and a few sales sheets. After analyzing the landscape and the brand's competitive set, we crafted detailed brand identity standards to lay a strong foundation for what we knew to be limitless growth potential.
For B2B companies, tradeshows are vital to raising awareness and making meaningful business connections.
We designed Genesys’ tradeshow display and collateral to match the magnitude of their innovation and educate passersby about the transformative power of Genesys Global™ lighting.
The Genesys Global™ team is passionate about their technologies and working together as a family to serve leading businesses. We designed and produced Genesys’ apparel to be high quality, versatile, and match anything, just like their gLED™ and gHID™ technology.
Genesys Global™ provides up to 75% energy savings, just by changing lights. For an industry that has been slow to innovate, that kind of upside can be difficult to comprehend.
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We built GenesysGlobal.com with an interactive savings calculator as the focal point, allowing users to input their lighting setup and realize the savings potential from the palm of their hand.
With strategy at our core, we take immense pride in going to the extremes to understand our clients’ industries and audiences. In preparation for a 2021 Genesys Global™ product launch, we flew coast to coast touring horticulture and cannabis grow facilities of all sizes.
Over one week, we met with c-suite decision makers, conducted interviews, shot photography, and took in the sights, sounds, and vibes of a market that is growing at an exponential rate.
The combination of immersive discovery and in-house social listening and ethnography has laid a detailed foundation for what will be the brand’s grandest launch to date.
Research and discovery indicated the brand’s c-suite target audience was more active on digital platforms than ever before, particularly LinkedIn.
By utilizing LinkedIn’s unique ad types and targeting, we crafted paid campaigns to increase followers and generate leads from executives in every sector of industry.
The overarching social strategy was tailored to each specific platform, with a mix of educational, promotional, and timely content, all presented in the same enlightening tone of voice.
