Duluth Trading Co
Duluth is a clothing company based out of Mt. Horeb, Wisconsin (why on earth would you think Duluth, Minnesota?) known for their ingenious workwear, gritty voice and not taking themselves too seriously. Their mission is to outthink, outsmart and outcraft average in everything they do - after all, there are legs, torsos and crotches depending on them. Hands down, pants down, this has been one of my favorite clients to work on. Below is just a small sample of the work I helped create or direct.
Fire Hose HD
Fire Hose are work pants that make Carhartts feel cheap. They are built for tough, so tough a giant mammoth sized angry beaver doesn’t stand a chance against them. When launching Fire Hose HD we had a unique challenge facing us - how do we position them without bastardizing the OG Fire Hose. What we did was stay true to the tough platform. Fire Hose pants defined what tough was. Fire Hose HD pants took that legacy and redefined what tough is.
Duluth Women
While Duluth is known for their comedy and simple animation style over the past few years the women’s brand was searching for an identity. The animation wasn’t resonating with women and when steered in a more poetic tone, all things that made Duluth - Duluth, were lost. If the men’s work was unapologetically honest (with matter of fact humor, simple facts and male representation) we determined the women’s work needed to be unapologetically female.
That means accepting women’s ups, downs, burps and farts. That’s right, they burp and fart. Sometimes better than their partners’. They snore too. They break glass ceilings. Some squeezed a watermelon out of their vaginas (and now they pee a little every time they laugh). Sometimes their hips have hips and sometimes their curves have curves. Who cares! They’ve shotgunned a beer, thrown up after a shot, downed a glass of wine (which again, let’s be honest, is really two). They’ve laughed at dick jokes. They’ve laughed at dicks. Deal with it. They know how to get dirty more ways than one: sawdust, soil, glitter, sprinkles. They can talk nails. Framing nails. Box nails. Acrylic and gel. They didn’t “put ourselves together” yesterday, today or tomorrow and that’s okay because unapologetically, that’s female.
We took this newfound spirit and created a new tone of voice and a style that captures the everyday.
Locker Room Buy
Unexpectedly, Duluth’s media came to us with an opportunity to advertise in locker rooms and bathrooms - which means there’s plenty of potential for things to get uncomfortable. Here, we acknowledged this dilemma and and created some helpful instructions on avoiding those uncomfortable situations. Obviously, picking Buck Naked Underwear is a great place to start.
Men at the urinal are men at their most vulnerable. Whether it’s giving them something to do, or delivering a little deadpan life advice, the urinal is the perfect place to capture men’s attention while inspiring them to take underwear action.
Buck in da Bar
Media got a freebie for ad space in bars. We decided to be contextual with our messaging and create assets that mimicked the evening.
Duluth Social
Here are just a few examples of bringing the Duluth animation and the Duluth brand to life on social.
Buck Smooth
Keep your hands and feet inside the ride. Things are about to get smooth… Buck Naked Smooth. These babies are begging to be ridden. No bumps, humps or anything less than smooth. Bid farewell to that friction and get Smoooooth!