Second Place
Bingham McCutchen LLP — Administrative Logos and Templates

Bingham McCutchen’s firm wide initiative helped address the lack of branding and cohesion in internal communications. The firm designed a suite of electronic templates — for newsletters, updates and high-priority alerts — built around new departmental logos for Operations, Human Resources, IT, Risk Management and Legal Recruiting. It also branded a store of internal e-mail templates accessible to all employees for uses such as announcing social gatherings or volunteer events. Most of these templates are completely self-serve. Departments and individuals can create and distribute their own messaging, while working within the brand and the firm wide green initiative.

Third Place
McAfee & Taft — “Oklahoma’s Go-To Law Firm” Postcard Portfolio

In September 2009, Oklahoma City hosted the Federal Bar Association’s annual meeting – a significant event for our market. As a top-level sponsor of the conference, McAfee & Taft had the opportunity to provide promotional items for the attendees’ goodie bags. Finding the perfect item that met all of their objectives was extremely challenging. The criteria was something that reinforced their brand, was practical and immediately usable by the attendees, was memorable and not likely to be duplicated by other law firms and was relatively inexpensive. Knowing that such an item couldn’t be found in a catalog, they opted to design and produce a custom giveaway. 

The “inspiration” for our postcard piece came from two sources: the FBA’s own event theme (“Discover Oklahoma City”) and a positioning statement-turned-slogan (“Oklahoma’s Go-To Law Firm”) the firm had developed in 2009 as part of a separate campaign.

In addition to scheduling meeting-related events at a variety of locales around the city, the FBA conference agenda included optional excursions to notable places of interest. Knowing that attendees would be taking in these local attractions, it was important to show them just how big a role the firm has played in the life and growth of the city and, in particular, the business community. 

It was important to the firm that the hundreds of FBA members in attendance not only know the McAfee & Taft name; the firm wanted members to know who the firm is and why they should remember them, both now and in the future. This required a mini brochure, but the firm knew that providing too much information would result in the piece not being read at all. The solution was to tell the story by providing a beautiful, souvenir-quality postcards which highlighted some notable work and were immediately usable.

Summary of Outcomes

The finished postcard portfolio piece accomplished all  goals and then some. The target audience saw them, read them, used them and remembered the firm. The firm even received a referral from someone who specifically referred to McAfee as being the “go-to” law firm in Oklahoma that he remembered from the postcards.

Honorable Mention
Hemenway & Barnes LLP — Firm Logo and Stationery

As a firm with over 150 years of experience, Hemenway & Barnes recognized that it was time to present themselves as more than a firm that deals with family wealth and showcase all that the firm can do for families, nonprofits and entrepreneurs.

The marketing goal was to help increase the firm’s growth and awareness among families, entrepreneurs and nonprofits and still showcase the unique role as a very close, personal advisor. While the firm’s attorneys are top-notch, it is the personal connection that each one has with his or her client that makes the firm special.

Over 50 logos were reviewed. As they narrowed down the choices, the team was all enamored of one mark that was an elegant, full tree. The mark seemed to represent an established firm, family and wealth all at the same time. This new mark was coupled with a friendlier typeface that is stacked so the name doesn’t lose its importance as the size of the logo is reduced.

The logo is the foundation of the brand and represents the growth, family and establishment that the firm was looking for. On the Web site, the site opens to the tree growing from nothing to its full form as seen on the mark. This animation draws attention to the logo, making the firm stand out amongst the thousands of firms and static logos in the industry.

Summary of Outcomes

The response from clients has been overwhelmingly positive. Some clients offered to partake in a photo shoot for a new brochure when the logo was completed. The clients immediately understood the significance of the tree and felt a sense of pride at the way the firm is reinventing themselves.

The project, which was done exclusively in-house (except for printing) came in under budget at less than $5 per piece. As an added benefit, the firm had no waste with the project. Because the piece was not dated, they were able to use the extras for other promotional purposes.