“When first considering Thornberg & Forester, I was optimistic about the possibilities as they had done some previous work for our company with one of our agency partners. This time, I was interested in working with them directly as the excellence and breadth of their portfolio was impressive. After speaking with Scott and the team about our project, I knew they were the right choice. Just so refreshing to find talented creatives open to collaboration and who have the patience to help us find the right solutions. Very happy with the process and the end results. Without a doubt, Thornberg & Forester couldn’t be better partners for doing client-direct work.”
– Sr. Director, Marketing & Creative Strategy
Twenty year old telecommunications giant, Charter Communications, introduced the Spectrum brand in 2014. Spectrum offers cable television, internet, telephone, and wireless services across the country. T&F was honored to be selected to design and produce a robust OOH campaign to promote Spectrum at L.A. Live. The vast 5,600,000 square foot outdoor space is home to fourteen massive digital screens and LED marquee ribbon displays. The screens vary in size, resolution, placement, and orientation.
We designed and produced four hero 15-second films; Spectrum Brand, Spectrum TV, Spectrum Internet, and Spectrum Mobile. Each was composed to work in the varied aspect ratios and to work harmoniously with one another. We were also tasked to design Brand and Mobile versions of the films for the interior and upper halo LED ribbons of the Staples Center. All were crafted in both English and Spanish, tallying a total of 94 deliverables. Sound design and mix was done by film score composer Dean Hurley.
The Ritz Carlton and J.W. Marriott hotels are host to three of the fourteen displays at L.A. Live. Though each display varies drastically in height and width, we embraced the design challenge as a creative opportunity to maximize graphic and typographic impact. It became instantly clear to us that this triptych should feel like one, brand-unified message and be expressed in perfect harmony, no matter which film or which language was being presented.
We initially presented four fleshed out treatments to demonstrate how each design would expand across all displays. The treatment that rose to the top is an architectural, multi-tiered construction of the Spectrum symbol. We mathematically deconstructed the symbol form to generate an on-brand, dimensional environment to travel through and explore. The journey would lead viewers through each individual message, and end with an energetic, warm, light-activation as the multiple tiers of the symbol align for final logo reveal.
The pictures above capture the footprint of Microsoft Square at L.A. Live and hint at the Ritz Carlton/J.W. Marriott vertical display. Below are two of twelve animations we designed and produced for the interior and exterior of the Staples Center.
Following the success of our Spectrum digital OOH campaign in Los Angeles, we were happily engaged to design a nationwide OOH campaign for Spectrum Mobile. Our initial exploration covered a wide gamut of creative approaches. Each of our thirteen treatments were formatted for billboard, poster, bus shelter, subway interior card and 2-sheet poster applications (a shortlist of many for final production). For this early phase, we worked with placeholder copy and built upon the integrity of the Spectrum Mobile brand in fresh, new ways.
Our design team looked at various techniques to expand the Spectrum Mobile brand attributes while remaining true to the brand’s native power of simplicity. Scale, tone, hierarchy, composition, clarity, and impact were all kept front and center as we moved through design refinement phases. In working very closely with our client partners at Spectrum, we landed on a powerful campaign to be proud of.
Below are a few examples of the final campaign. Our final solution is a striking, bold and confident brand extension that works beautifully with lifestyle photography and stands strong on it’s own in pure, graphic form. We developed a tight system of style and execution rules to honor as we designed English and Spanish script layouts and permutations across a matrix of over 200 print-ready mechanicals.
Our team is continuing to roll out nationwide deliverables through August 2019. This hand-painted billboard on Houston and Thompson is one of our favorites!
