Kickstarting a Revolution with We Luv Video
The pandemic pulled the plug on a lot of small businesses. By 2020, I Luv Video, a DVD and VHS rental store in Austin, was a relic of day’s passed. The local chain’s last remaining location on Airport Blvd was recognized as the largest and oldest video shop in the world with over 120,000 videos. In an era dominated by streaming services, I Luv Video was a mecca of physical media. When conditions proved to be too unprofitable, the store’s founder was forced to roll credits. Austin’s film-loving community was devastated.
8AM Steps in for the Sequel
A couple of good samaritans, Macy Cotton and Ryan Teel, saw the streaming cycle slowly eat up intellectual property, picking and choosing what movies made the cut and what didn’t, and generally dominating the film and television sphere with an iron fist. They reached out to 8AM with a dream: to house the I Luv Video collection in a new space, now run as a nonprofit. But first, like all good ideas, they needed money.
TLDR: We took the reins on their branding and website and helped organize a successful Kickstarter campaign that raised over $100k.
And the site took home gold from Hermes Creative Awards.
“We’re Getting the Brand Back Together!”
Revitalizing a brand takes a village of creative geniuses, and luckily we are in no short supply of that. After Macy and Ryan accepted our proposal, we hit the ground running. As a video rental store sticking it to streaming in the modern age, we wanted something fresh but retro, professional yet punk. We wanted to take the aesthetic of a bygone era and use it to send a new message: people still appreciate the classics. Oh, and the stranglehold that streaming has on media is coming to an end.
The two logos we ended up with are highly adaptable and can be tweaked and tuned to fit the aesthetic needs of just about any context: horror-themed programming or family friendly events. The vintage vibe extends to our best-selling merch and the website, where we incorporated mock-polaroids, stickers, and VHS-esque text to give it an authentic, physical feel.
Basically, we pulled out all the stops. We believed in We Luv Video. Macy and Ryan did too, and we wanted to honor that. Upon seeing all the hard work we put in for We Luv Video, Macy had this to say…
“Shut up guys, this is so cool I cried. It's PERFECT!!”
Sometimes being told to shut up is a good thing.
After we got the Kickstarter page up, the website running, and the logo looking fresh, we started strong with social. We wanted to incorporate that dreamy haze of the hey-day of VHS visuals into the brand of We Luv Video.
The Work Never Stops
After the website was live, we wanted to continue to help We Luv Video in any way we could. We donated work pro bono and continue to do so to this day.
8AM is deeply involved in the work and mission of We Luv Video, producing design, strategy, and art direction that (as of writing this case study) has helped them meet and exceed their membership and money-raising goals.