JT Wilder BBQ

The client

JT Wilder BBQ is what you might call a 25-year-old overnight success. Started as a hobby, it fast became a passion. Then grew into every entrepreneur’s dream — a smokin’ new business. Founder Jason Wilder's years in the starched shirt world of financial services? A distant memory. Lucky for the people of Berwyn, PA and surrounding townships. Jason created some of the most delectable Texas-inspired barbequed brisket, pulled pork, chicken and links his customers have laid their taste buds on — or dribbled down their chin. The door sign says it all: "Pleased to Meat Ya.”

The challenge

Like so many self-financed start-ups, breaking out of the pack and building awareness was the biggest obstacle to Wilder's success. But JT Wilder BBQ had three things going for it. A burning desire to build a new business. Great word-of-mouth meats, salmon and sides. And an advertising partner in BHI that he'd worked hand-in-glove with to successfully reboot his former employer in the financial services business.

The solution

Everything about JT Wilder BBQ says artisan. And that's the inspiration the Agency took in crafting the company's brand — leveraging Jason’s passion of cooking with fire — by integrating the shape of flame into the "W” letterform to create a memorable blazing red icon.

With a system in place that boasted flexible options of a standalone icon and word mark, BHI literally set the brand in motion by animating the flame and enhancing it with flying sparks. The ads carried some of the same bold red/black character with copy that was as fun and engaging as the menu: "Ah, that's the rub." "Sorry folks. Inflation is taking a bite out of our brisket sandwiches, too." "On earth as it is in heaven." We created Facebook videos, outdoor postings, directional signs, and building wraps. We even wrangled some powerful unpaid media. The inescapable draw of Wilder's smoked-on-site meats.