Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Stock Show University

This spring we had the big honor of working on a very exciting collaboration with some of our favorite people in the livestock business on the exciting new "Stock Show University" created by Sullivan Supply. Our friends in the midwest are probably familiar with this by now, since the Sullivan's have been doing lots of promotional give-a-ways at the midwest beef expos, but in case you haven't heard about this, we wanted to write about it and how RHD got involved in this great new project.

Earlier this spring, John Sullivan called us with a totally exciting new program he and his wife Dede came up with. It was sort of along the lines of their new scholarship program they made last year, in terms of being another opportunity that Sullivan Supply wanted to do something to give back to the livestock business.

So John said that he wanted to schedule a conference call with Rachel, Arin Strasburg, and himself to go over the idea. Of course I was super excited...but also very curious. As John started explaining the concept, I was immediately on board to help! The idea was "Stock Show University." As John explained it, Stock Show University is a FREE educational clinic that is going to be sponsored by Sullivan Supply. Anyone can attend free of charge - both adults and youth. Sullivan Supply will be hosting clinics at beef expos, major shows, and junior nationals as well as local shows and at home events throughout the United States.  The clinics vary in size and scope - anywhere from 1/2 day programs during the afternoons at shows to very comprehensive, 3-day clinics. These are all FREE to attend as a way that the Sullivan's can show that they are committed to education. And the "professors" at Stock Show U are the leading experts in fitting, showmanship, daily care, etc.

So where does Ranch House Designs come into play? Well, we'll be leading the demonstration on how to properly fit and clip hind legs. SIKE! We got to be part of the collaborative design and marketing team to create the brand image, apparel line, and media pieces.

This part was ESPECIALLY fun because it was a team effort between Ranch House Designs and Designs by Arin. Rachel and Arin have been friends and colleagues for over 10 years and for this project, John said he chose us because he wanted to work with the two people he felt were the best in the business. It was a great project to work on!! We had a lot of fun working with Arin and the Sullivans. Some of the results of this team effort can be seen in the multi-page ad/catalog that Sullivan's recently put out called "Profiles of a Champion." This is a great piece that was designed by Arin with our creative writing input.

RHD also created the logo for Stock Show University and coordinated the design and production of the awesome line of caps that the Sullivan's have been giving away at the shows. Here are a few examples of the logo and caps.












If you want to know more about Stock Show University, you can visit their home page at http://sullivansupply.com/ssu_home_page.html. Here are also a few links...

  • Clinic Schedule - There are already a ton of clinics scheduled coast to coast! Check it out!
  • Professors - Meet the professors of Stock Show U!

So, our hats off to the Sullivans for once again creating a great new program to help the young people in the livestock business! We are so honored and proud to be a small part of the promotional efforts of Stock Show U!

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

A great Christmas present!

Every year it seems that we get involved in some really cool Christmas present projects, and this year was no different. We have done things in the past ranging from new web site gift certificates, photo collages, banners, signs, and all kinds of creative things.

This year, we had a new one....and it involves one of our favorite fellow blogging friends Crystal Young. Her boyfriend Jon Blin contacted us a few weeks before Christmas and wanted to enlist our help in a special Christmas present for Crystal. The present involved a couple of things. First, the easy part was that he wanted to register the domain name http://www.crystalcattle.com/ for her and have that go to her blog, which is hosted on Blogger just like ours.

The second part was that he wanted to give her a gift certificate for a new look on her blog, which is cool because he was going to give her the gift certificate then that way she could work directly with us to get the exact look she wanted.

The funny thing about this special present is, just a few weeks after Jon had emailed us, Crystals' mom ALSO emailed us with the same idea. So obviously the people close to Crystal knew that this is something she wanted! We didn't know whether to let the cat out of the bag or not, but we did disclose the secret present to Crystal's mom so she knew about the exciting gift.

A few weeks ago we completed the blog re-design with Crystal, and her new blog can be seen at http://www.crystalcattle.com/. This is a great blog that talks about lots of different things in the cattle business. Check it out and I'm sure you'll want to become a follower!