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It's not just about pretty pictures.
That's what Brian Carlock says. The principal and creative director at Sarasota's Studio BCC says his agency's work is about being resourceful and inventive, all in connection with solving clients' problems.
Carlock moved to the area three years ago from Manhattan, where he worked in branding and advertising for 20 years as a creative director with several agencies. Studio BCC, founded in 2015, is his first agency of his own.
He says Studio BCC has important criteria for its clients. No. 1 on his list: clients who don't look to maintain the status quo. And Carlock seeks clients who will collaborate with his team on the creative process. “The work you produce can never be better than the relationship it comes out of,” he says
BOTA Center marketing kit
Awards: Silver ADDY at AdFed Suncoast's AAF awards, Silver ADDY at AAF Fourth District awards
Main objective: BOTA Center in Sarasota will provide office space in a renovated mid-century modern building for tenants in creative industries. It's in the Rosemary District, a quirky developing area north of downtown Carlock considers the Brooklyn of Sarasota. The developer of the space wanted a promotional piece to show potential tenants when explaining the concept and plan behind the project.
Studio BCC worked with the developer to devise a six-page creative brief that outlined the strategy behind the marketing kit. The large-scale piece is spiral bound with photos and renderings throughout. Inside, a velum map over a street grid shows prospective tenants area landmarks. “It raises the level of quality,” Carlock says. “People notice that and see it represents quality and a certain level of sophistication.”
Challenges overcome: Carlock says the marketing kit celebrates the history of the building and the Rosemary District. Studio BBC and the developer of the project thought it was important to showcase the future and possibility of the district through the piece. In recent years, that history has been mixed. While several multifamily projects are ongoing now, in the past decade, several other projects have stalled.
Donte's Den pitch book
Awards: Gold ADDY at AdFed Suncoast's AAF awards, Silver ADDY at AAF Fourth District awards
Main objective: Donte's Den provides a home-like setting for dogs separated from owners due to illness, injury, abandonment, long-term travel or military deployment. The nonprofit sought a promotional piece to use during conversations with potential corporate and large-scale donors.
Carlock says the organization wanted to convey the beauty, color and lusciousness of a coffee table book and the “feeling of a dog up in your face.” Existing photographs of dogs taken on the Donte's Den property were used throughout the piece to display the vision and emotion of the organization. Studio BCC used metal spirals to bind the chipboard cover and heavy interior pages in-house. “It's inexpensive but beautiful,” Carlock says.
Challenges overcome: The piece had to serve two functions. Carlock says the pitch book was intentionally designed to be used both during in-person pitches with potential donors and as a take-home promotional piece. The outcome? A design that marries form and function.
Mandeville Beer Garden menu
Awards: Silver ADDY at AdFed Suncoast's AAF awards
Main objective: Mandeville Beer Garden owner Rebekah Mandeville and Studio BCC decided it was time for the traditional plastic diner-type menu used in the restaurant to go. They discussed developing a menu more in line with the restaurant's brand.
One Sunday afternoon, Carlock visited the restaurant and ate every item on the menu to be able to offer his perspective.
That, he says, was the start of the new menu.
Carlock and Mandeville then had an open dialogue about the menu contents and style. Studio BCC pitched options to her, and she selected a menu design with a laser-etched wood backing and binding with durable synthetic paper. Different paper sizes inside the menu allow specific offerings, such as lunch and happy hour, to stand out.
“Our clients understand the investment they're making in creating a brand,” Carlock says. “The same way they would buy beer or burger meat, they buy the brand.”
Challenges overcome: To be able to accommodate menu changes, Mandeville and Studio BBC wanted something that could be easily modified. The screws in the menu's binding hold the pages together and can be unscrewed to allow for pages to be added or removed.
“It's very modular in that way,” Carlock says. “We wanted to create a unique aesthetic brand experience, but we wanted to bridge that with functional requirements.”
Studio BCC is now working with the developers of Risdon on 5th, a condo project in the Rosemary District, on marketing materials. Carlock's team is interviewing people who live in the area to gather information so they can portray the design and feel of the neighborhood.
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