Simon’s Petroleum hosts 20-30 of its most loyal customers and vendors at a yearly retreat. Each year the four day event is held in a U.S. city full of legend and lore. While there, the guests stay at upscale hotels, dine in the most renown eateries and are treated to intimate tours of the area’s best attractions.

S Design partnered with Simon’s Petroleum to set the stage for the no-expense-spared trips. We created the invitations to be lavish pieces of art, unexpected and completely untraditional. Handprinted wall papers, antique photographs and hand bound books spark the curiosity of invitees.

We’ve heard long-standing plans for European tours have been cancelled after the receipt of one of the coveted invitations. We’re just waiting for our invitation in the mail.

Simon’s Petroleum hosts 20-30 of its most loyal customers and vendors at a yearly retreat. Each year the four day event is held in a U.S. city full of legend and lore. While there, the guests stay at upscale hotels, dine in the most renown eateries and are treated to intimate tours of the area’s best attractions.

S Design partnered with Simon’s Petroleum to set the stage for the no-expense-spared trips. We created the invitations to be lavish pieces of art, unexpected and completely untraditional. Handprinted wall papers, antique photographs and hand bound books spark the curiosity of invitees.

We’ve heard long-standing plans for European tours have been cancelled after the receipt of one of the coveted invitations. We’re just waiting for our invitation in the mail.

The Redbud Classic is an annual foot and bike race that benefits a different local nonprofit each year. Well-known among serious athletes, young moms and even their children, it attracts a diverse group of walkers, runners and bikers.

With a loyal base, the event aims to attract a larger crowd each year and wants to maintain its visibility in the community.

S Design worked with the race for 8 of its 27 years, developing a new theme each year. We created everything from newspaper ads to posters, T-shirts and hats, and we made sure to honor the tradition of the race’s brand while still surprising participants with something artistic and fun.

Our Redbud T-shirts have become collectors items seen in gyms, on sidewalks and on playgrounds all over town. But more importantly, to date, Redbud has raised thousands for local nonprofits.

Oklahoma, known for its “black gold,” has a rich history in the oil and gas industry. But Oklahoma didn’t have much of a reputation as an environmentally progressive part of the industry. The State Secretary of Energy, working alongside researchers, investors, farmers and everyday citizens alike, set out to change that.

The state’s ranchers had grown switchgrass for years as a feed for cattle. The agricultural industry invested millions of research dollars into the creation of a sustainable and hardy variety for the industry. Turns out, switchgrass is a perfect raw material for biofuel, which puts Oklahoma at the forefront of the alternative energy movement.

GROW, The Oklahoma Biofuels Conference, boasts sold out attendance since 2006 and brings national energy experts to our state for a two-day conversation about Oklahoma’s biofuel industry. The conference brings together farmers, researchers and those who work in fuel refining, transportation and marketing to look forward and position our state as a leader in the creation of a renewable, plant-based transportation fuel.  The conference is a catalyst for conversations, new resources and collaborations.

Thanks to our PR partners at Anglin Public Relations, the conferences helped to define and position biofuels as a topic in Oklahoma. Over three years, they’ve generated more than 1,000 news stories about the conference in print, television, radio, websites and blogs. The value or commercial equivalency of these stories is more than $1 million.  This doesn’t include thousands of stories that mentioned biofuels in Oklahoma (without a direct relation to the conference), something that never happened prior to the first conference.

Oklahoma’s black gold is now green.

40th Annual Addy Awards – Call for Entries and Invitation

the greatest show on earth

The biggest spectacle in the industry, the ADDY’s, is an annual awards ceremony celebrating the best in advertising, design and marketing. For 39 years, the event had been the “it” event for the creative community, but in the last few years interest and participation had waned.

S Design was asked to create a campaign to increase submissions. We knew the best way to a creative’s heart is through design and we spared no detail.

Individual posters reminiscent of antique circus fliers depicted different stages of the design process. The reverse contained detailed information about the changes in the event and how to participate. Bundled and packaged in a letterpress brown kraft popcorn bag, you couldn’t bear not to look.

Our brave stunt worked. Submissions increased more than 30% and scholarship support rose for future clowns and trapeze artists (or, account executives and creative directors).

And, just in case you wondered, it’s no exaggeration–our gig really is the greatest show on earth.