Wilwood Disc Brakes
An iconic brake brand born in racing. Since 1977 they have designed and manufactured brake systems for limitless applications from industry, agriculture, and military to powersports, motorsports, and the automotive aftermarket. When I joined their marketing efforts with the team at Ultimate Performance the goal was to help modernize the brand and carve out a solid foothold in the print/digital advertising realm.
The launch of Wilwood's new color calipers at the time was a great opportunity to target new audiences and broaden their age demographic while strengthening social media following. Style is important to hobbyists, builders, and racers so colors started popping up everywhere from track to tradeshow.
We hosted some friendly competitions amongst brand ambassadors and enthusiasts, offering unique prizes and boosting social media reach and engagement. Things also got a little mysterious with print advertising leading up to tradeshow season.
Telling the company's story and revisiting its rich history during the 40th anniversary campaign inspired a look at the logo. While talking with the owner (who designed the original word mark himself at his kitchen table) we started to dig up many of the previous iterations from decades past. Heeding design concerns of readability, contrast, and complexity we set to work. A simpler, more modern version emerged.
The logo was propagated and design standards were introduced to help Wilwood gain brand recognition across advertising platforms. New, bold creative was developed to appeal to the various markets, and the style continues to circulate through dozens of publications.
