Client Involvement: the key to great creative!

Every now and then we cross paths with a truly exceptional client, one who understands the power of creativity and participates enthusiastically in the collaboration process, one who is a pleasure to work with every day. The result is creative work at its finest!

TriAd has enjoyed this kind of relationship with Main St. Group, a printing, packaging and promotional solutions company. In fact, we’ve had the pleasure of working on their brand development twice, in 2006 and today. It’s been a great partnership all the way.

When we first connected, Main St. wanted to enhance their brand identity. The company had been in business for 30 years and was known for best quality printing and packaging solutions. They believed in keeping things simple and doing things right – building strong relationships, being easy to work with and always making their clients shine. Main St. wanted a brand identity program that captured their personality and reflected their business in a way that was unique, memorable and fun.

The result was the now famous “Chicken & Egg” campaign, a series of cartoon illustrations featuring a chicken and its eggs in a variety of scenarios. The strategy was right on target: Main St. Packaging keeps it simple … like the egg, nature’s perfect package. The art and copy style was simple and lots of fun. The message was delivered via dimensional mailers, capabilities folders, calendars and across every element of Main St.’s corporate portfolio. Main St. became “Home of the perfect package”™ and the brand identity served them very well.

Fast forward half a dozen years. Times change and so does marketing. While the “Chicken & Egg” were now inseparable from the Main St. brand, the overall look and feel had become a bit dated. The company had grown, expanded services and modified its name to Main St. Group. What to do?

Main St. reached out to TriAd and, like many times before, we put our heads together again. All agreed that maintaining the “chicken & egg” brand equity was a must. At the same time, Main St. Group wanted their brand to have a more exciting, contemporary and professional look. It would be important for marketing themes to embrace their expanded services and position the company as a smart, capable solutions provider. The design and graphics also had to be readily adaptable to the web, an integral part of the Main St. game plan.

Main St.’s new approach — “thINK!” It hints at their printing heritage and offers unlimited possibilities for promotional copy … ThINK fresh. ThINK extraordinary. ThINK Main St. Group. The “chicks & eggs” remain highly visible but have grown up from illustration to photography and a tagline that encourages you to “ThINK outside the shell….! ™”

TriAd worked closely with Main St. on graphic design, copy and web development. Together we brought a fresh brand identity to life, applying it to a website, stationery, folders, direct mailers and 2012 calendar. It was exciting from start to finish. And that’s really the point! The best creative is hatched from collaboration and a true client/agency partnership. It doesn’t get much better!

Check out the Main St. website to see how it all came together. Be sure to explore other examples of brand development at TriAd Marketing & Media.