Who we are
Since the earliest days of ranching, the brand of a successful
cattle operation was a mark of distinction that got people’s attention and commanded
their respect; additionally, it was often a significant source of pride for its
owners.
We build corporate and organizational brands that evoke the same
inspiring qualities that the great brands of the old west did so long ago. And the
purpose remains the same – to create and communicate a distinct, recognizable identity
that is both appealing to others and a source of pride for its owners. Hire us and
prepare to stand out from the herd
About the brands
The livestock brands that you see on this site are all from my
maternal grandmother's family. My great-grandfather Carl Giles was a rancher in
Oklahoma, and the G-shaped brands that you see on this site are his. I managed the Giles
ranch for several years and am very proud of my great-grandfather's legacy as a
rancher and a gentleman.
The other two brands are from my
great-grandmother's family – the Johnson family from Central Oklahoma that, later,
also ranched in the Texas Panhandle. The oldest of these brands is known as the
"hat brand" and you can see its simple form that is reminiscent of the basic
outline of a wide-brimmed hat. The Johnsons began ranching in what later became known as
Indian Territory in the middle of the 19th Century. My early ranching forbear in this
family was the son of a British agent and a Chickasaw Indian girl. The Johnson ranching
legacy is one of the unique stories of the American West and is recounted in The
Chickasaw Rancher, written by my relative Neil Johnson in the 1940s and recently updated
by my cousin Neil Kingsley. I hope that the work I do and the way I conduct my affairs
is worthy of the legacy and patrimony of this great Western family and my
great-grandfather Carl Giles
My outfit and I excel at the basic building blocks of branding. Whether
your organization, company or product needs a new name, logo, tagline, color scheme or
positioning statement, we can deliver award-winning quality work.
We can seamlessly
flow your brand identity through electronic, print and broadcast media to effectively
communicate your value proposition.
Specifically, we create websites, e-marketing
campaigns, brochures and other related materials; direct mail and print ad campaigns; and radio
commercials that are as original and attention-getting as they are professional and
sophisticated to effectively communicate your message to the audiences you need to reach.
Portfolio
Acquisitions
Houston Title was looking for a different, attention-getting approach, so we suggested that they make the ad about the customer. They liked the idea, so we created a new tagline and a new look and feel for their print ads. The new campaign featured an image of a woman relaxing - either in a pool/spa environment or at the beach, and the complementary tagline "Relax…we've got you covered." Customer-centric copy completed the message. This series of ads tells Houston Title's residential real estate agent target audience that, when they choose Houston Title, they don't have to worry about their deal because Houston Title's professionals are handling it. This shift in focus to the customer coupled with sophisticated graphic design and targeted copy constituted a real change in the way Houston Title communicated with its customer base, and, as it is an unorthodox approach, it has proven to be a conversation starter time and again.
For me, "Blue Portico" evoked images of a vantage point from a Greek temple on a high promontory looking out to the deep blue Mediterranean Sea below and toward the distant horizon. With its stylized blue logo that can be interpreted as a portal or a computer screen, Blue Portico came to signify a clear portal from a traveler's vacation home to the wide world beyond - via the internet.
- Vidimedix Corporation
- The Truffle Pig
- SLAM!
- Blue Portico
- Maison Rouge Partners
- MaxOut Savings Advisors
- Cross Continent Energy
Case Studies
In the wake of the Enron meltdown, the surviving
corporate entity actually had two divisions that remained viable, ongoing
businesses. They were Enron's international division, which was
re-branded as Prisma Energy and Enron Pipeco, which was Enron's
national pipeline holding company. Enron chose Easterly & Company to
help them re-brand these divisions and Gary Easterly called me to be part of
the effort.
Enron chose the name Cross Country Energy for its
national pipeline holding company, and, one day during the tagline selection
process, I got a call from Gary. He told me that the chairman of Cross
Country Energy had personally chosen my tagline "Going the
Distance" to complete the Cross Country Energy brand. With 3.5 billion
dollars in annual revenues, Cross Country Energy was the largest corporate
entity on which I have had a direct impact in the re-branding process, and
I'm grateful to have had the opportunity to work on such a significant
project.
The great, venerable Texas institution that is King Ranch needed a revised website and they chose Easterly & Company and me to make a site worthy of the King Ranch brand a reality. This was a big project, entailing trips to the ranch and several interviews. Additionally, I read books about King Ranch and conducted other research. I believe the end product reflects the significant time and effort it took to create. Within six month of the go-live date for the new King Ranch website, hits to the site more than doubled. The site now receives several million hits per month and has become a valuable resource for educators. The website won the silver medal at the 2007 Houston Addy Awards. Since completion of the site, I have done editing work for King Ranch and I look forward to the opportunity to work on more projects for this storied enterprise.
Creates memorable identity for its proprietary
industry software.
I've been fortunate enough, through my
association with Easterly & Company, to work on several projects for
G&A Partners, a significant human resources consulting and outsourcing
company with offices throughout Texas. G&A Partners also happens to be
the largest minority-owned business in the greater Houston area. In addition
to working on the re-branding of G&A, I wrote and edited the content for
their website. I've also conceptualized and written several promotional
pieces, brochures and print ads for this firm.
One of the efforts
for G&A Partners of which I am most proud is the copy and concept that I
created for a direct mail campaign that won Easterly & Company a gold
medal for Best Direct Mail Campaign at the 2005 Addy Awards presented by the
Houston Advertising Federation. The campaign was based on yoga, and its
theme was "position yourself for success." I connected Easterly
& Company with the yogis who were featured in the direct mail pieces and
wrote copy that led off with eastern sounding themes that transitioned into
compelling information about the client's products and services. If you
visit G&A's headquarters in Houston, you'll see the photos
from this campaign on the walls of their foyer waiting
area.
Creating the yoga-based "position yourself for
success" campaign positioned Easterly & Company to win a second
Addy gold medal in as many years. Interestingly enough, not long after this
direct mail campaign rolled out, G&A Partners' sales quadrupled.
This unorthodox, yoga-oriented campaign helped put G&A in a position to
grow, and was so successful that the company now employs yoga practitioners
to do yoga at G&A's trade show booths – a shrewd move that has
proven to be a real conversation starter.
Establishes a whimsical new identity to grow its
customer base.
When OGM Land needed a name for their new oil and gas
mineral and surface leasing technology, they called on Easterly and Company
to help. Gary Easterly called me and asked me to work on the account. As
fate would have it, I also happened to have a background in mineral right
leasing, so I was familiar with the industry. Gary told me that OGM was
interested in coming up with a cool acronym for their technology module. The
acronym I created that they chose was S.L.A.M. – Strategic Lease Acquisition
Manager. An added benefit of choosing this acronym was that OGM got a name
and a tagline for this new technology all in one fell swoop. With this
proven technology and a solid new brand worthy of it, OGM Land was primed to
slam the competition.
West Houston's Sweet Cut Ham specialized in
selling honey-glazed hams and turkeys along with side dishes and sauces. The
proprietors were expanding their offerings to include fully prepared meals.
They were home-cooked classics, made with extra flair and special attention
to top quality ingredients.
Sweet Cut Ham needed a new brand to
reflect this shift in business strategy and Gary Easterly called me to help
out. I came up with a concept, name and tagline that I found both inspiring
and compelling for the client's target demographic, and soon, Sweet Cut
Ham was transformed into The Truffle Pig – high brow, down home take
out.
The client was thrilled and a Truffle Pig print ad campaign
for which I created concept and copy garnered a gold medal for Easterly
& Company the following year at the Houston Addy Awards. My hunch that
The Truffle Pig had legs was unequivocally confirmed.
We make it intelligible to the general
reader.
In the wake of 2001's devastating Tropical Storm Allison,
which created the largest rain event in Houston's history, the Harris
County Flood Control District commissioned a report to be created regarding
flood impact and readiness. Jim McGrath, speech writer for former President
Bush, called me to assist.
My responsibility was to take the
technical report compiled by engineers and scientists and transform it into
a document that the average intelligent reader could understand and easily
digest. It took quite a lot of time and effort, but I accomplished the goal
and generated a document that met the client's requirements.
He is highly accomplished at building
residential and equestrian facilities for a very discriminating, high-end
clientele. He needed a graphical brand and complementary ad campaign that
conveyed the message that he did work of the highest caliber while
understanding the desires of clients whose leisure time is focused largely
on equestrian pursuits.He is highly accomplished at building residential and
equestrian facilities for a very discriminating, high-end clientele. He
needed a graphical brand and complementary ad campaign that conveyed the
message that he did work of the highest caliber while understanding the
desires of clients whose leisure time is focused largely on equestrian
pursuits.
JD Cooper is a polo player and crackerjack licensed
general contractor in Aiken, S.C. He is highly accomplished at building
residential and equestrian facilities for a very discriminating, high-end
clientele. He needed a graphical brand and complementary ad campaign that
conveyed the message that he did work of the highest caliber while
understanding the desires of clients whose leisure time is focused largely
on equestrian pursuits.For JD, we created Cooper Home & Stable. The name
is high-end, yet earthy and tells potential equestrian clients that JD
shares their perspective on the good life and can create built environments,
be they homes, stables, barns or paddocks, that are exemplars of that
perspective.The ad campaign we crafted for Cooper Home & Stable expanded
on this idea. Each ad featured depictions of the tools of JD’s vocational
and avocational pursuits. One featured photos of a hard hat and a polo
helmet, the next showed a hammer and a polo mallet and the third ad featured
photos of work boots and polo boots. The attendant headlines and copy for
the ads further reinforced that JD is as passionate about building quality
homes and equestrian facilities as he is about his polo game, and the
response to the campaign has been a boon to his ever burgeoning business in
the beautiful South Carolina horse country he calls home.
