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We have this client, Jim, who we’ve worked with for a number of years. One day last year, he called and said he had decided to sell his restaurant supply company. And, like many entrepreneurs, Jim was not ready to settle down but instead had an idea for a new company.

His idea was to take a profitable part of his previous business and expand it into a full business of its own. Armed with this idea, and with the help of the creative design services at Westamerica Communications, Wood Welded West was born.

Developing the Brand

In a previous post I quoted Paul Rand, the famous American art director and graphic designer, who said the logo is only as good as the product it represents. Well, when Jim called looking for some help in branding his new company we knew the quality of the product he was producing and wanted to make sure his branding matched his product.

Jim is selling custom cutting boards, butcher blocks and other beautiful wood products from Michigan Maple Block Company and the Bally Block Company; know collectively as the Wood Welded® Companies.

These are some of the most beautiful and stunning kitchen countertops, food prep surfaces, and sturdy industrial workbench tops you’ll ever see. The popularity of Wood Welded® butcher block products is due in part to its continuous operation, by one family, for over 125 years.

The goal of our creative services department was to create print collateral, signage and even a van wrap that would reflect the beauty, durability, and history of the wood welded products.

Graphic Design Services

First, we slightly modified the company’s original logo to reflect the new West Coast location while keeping its original look and feel. We wanted to preserve the company’s 125-year history.

Wood Welded® provided a wonderful graphic with a butcher working on a butcher block and a maple leaf to represent Michigan Maple Block Company, which is located in Petoskey, Michigan—the heart of hard maple country. We enlarged the graphic, cleaned it up a bit and used it to create a sign for Jim’s showroom. We also used the same graphic on the door panels of the van.

The next challenge came when we started creating the artwork for the van wrap. The graphics needed for such a large output had to be high resolution. We started with stock images but they didn’t really have the look and feel we needed. So we took some photos of the actual wood stock that Jim uses to make his counter and work bench tops. We were able to capture the wood grain and texture in the images. Thus we used photos of Jim’s own products to create the van wrap.

Point of Purchase Display

You may argue this point with me but I think the ultimate Point of Purchase Display is a van wrap. To prove my point, Jim drove his newly wrapped van from our facilities in Lake Forest to his showroom in Anaheim. By the time he arrived there was a phone message waiting for him inquiring about his Butcher Blocks!

Up to that time, Jim had done no other advertising. He had yet to send any direct mail or distribute any of his custom print collateral. The only way anyone would have known about his new business was the van.

Jim, from all of us here at Westamerica Communications, good luck on you new endeavor!