Local food is just better.

I mean local food ADS. Yeah, you know what I meant. I cover everything here regardless of budget or agency, because while it’s nice to have TV money to shoot national campaigns with celebrities, lot of brands in smaller markets don’t have that luxury. Doesn’t mean the work has to suck. If you’re a small to mid shop, you can still do solid work and carve out a niche with those small regional clients. Here are two recent projects doing just that.

From TDA in Boulder, CO comes TV work for Hapa Sushi in Boulder. I like the attitude of the writing, because it’s exactly what you wonder when you go into a restaurant like that. Whereas the hypothetical of the bitter waitstaff is the stuff of most fast food spots, sounds like Hapa has attitude for real. Ditch Lady is my favorite, but does the joke play out for three spots?

Yes for Virgin, but eh, maybe if the women were a little more manly in Lady Clothes. Still, it’s funnier stuff than McDonald’s would do, because the perception of the brand wouldn’t allow room for it.









Now, since I can’t find good barbecue in CT, make that, *any*, here’s another makeover for a local chain down south called Dixie Bones by The Republik out of Durham, NC. (A site redesign being the initial work for the chain.)

As D-B CEO Nelson Head says on the new site: “When food replaces sex, it’s just a matter of time before you can’t get into your own pants.” With quotes like that, what’s not to love. They replaced the old site with a contemporary but homespun feel and added requisite social media sides like Twitter and such.

Point is, don’t hate on local. Not everyone gets to work on Pepsi. As much as there are plenty of local or regional companies without a clue, there are also plenty which aren’t and which also need good design or advertising. Seemingly small projects that large shops wouldn’t touch offer a gateway to bigger things for smaller places.

Be creative with whatever’s in front of you and design the hell out of it, no?*

*No amount of creativity however will turn this frozen Celeste pizza into a plate of ribs. Trust me—I’m staring and trying, but it’s just not happening for me.