A NEW HISTORIC BRAND
If you are from the Cincinnati/NKY region, you have no doubt heard of or seen the Jolly Plumbing trucks going up and down 471 and the AA highway. A legendary brand in the region, Jolly had considerable equity in their trusty Jack logo pairing with the ever famous tagline “A Flush Beats a Full House”. Which, by the way, a full house beats a flush in poker… But damn it if it wasn’t a great slogan for a plumber.
Jolly had grown since it’s foundation in the 70s by founder Barry Jolly (yes, his name is Jolly and he is in fact quite jolly) to not only offer plumbing services, but also HVAC and electric service as well. Suddenly “flush” didn’t have a place for the entire brand but rather one singular service offering.
The time was right for a new look, a new tagline, and a new (but friendly) face.
DECISIONS DECISIONS
First came the decision. “Do we need an update or a ground up rebuild?” That decision shook out quickly when we showed 2nd generation Owner and President, Brady Jolly, what a new brand and more specifically what a new truck could look like.
“That’s sick.” Which is millennial entrepreneur for “Let’s do it.
But we didn’t want to throw everything Brady’s father built away. We wanted some nods to the old brand and the history. And that came in two forms; Colors and Barry.
THE NAME
Jolly plumbing was out, of course. But what should we call the new name. With the help of Georgia based home services marketing agency Titled House, we navigated Brady through what the different names could be, what they would look like, sound like, and how people would feel about them. Ultimately we all collectively decided to simply let it be Jolly not only for design purposes but it allows the brand to naturally grow over time versus being locked in in the way that “plumbing” did originally.
COLORS
In an effort to honor the brand of old, the decision was quickly made to keep the equity in the existing blue, which we named “Barry Blue” and yellow aka “Jolly Yellow” while also adding a new blue (Brady Blue) and a gray that we named…”Gray”. A system was also needed to display the many service offerings that Jolly now offered, presented through simply and bold iconography.
A NOD TO POP
Honoring any brands rich history is found throughout so many brands and logos today. We along with Brady wanted very much to honor the roots of Jolly through his dad’s efforts for so many years. Utilizing an old photo from the beginning days of Jolly Plumbing we created the ever so lovable Barry that is now featured just about everywhere. From yard signs, to social posts, to direct mailers, Barry might be the most famous cartoon character in Northern Kentucky today!
NEW LOOK. NEW VIDEO
Of course what would a new brand be without a new commercial spot. Heavily orchestrated and mostly in one single shot, this commercial SEEMED like it would be pretty simple, but proved to take a while to lock in. But once locked in, we were the talk of the neighborhood. Here it is. In all of it’s wildly catchy, goofy, but absolutely undeniably jolly fun.
