Tennessee 225 Campaign

Client :State of Tennessee

The State of Tennessee needed captivating creative to commemorate 225 years of statehood. Our job was to raise awareness for the anniversary and tell the story of Tennessee’s culture and history with an integrated marketing campaign.

Insight

Tennessee is known for three beloved things: Dolly Parton, Jack Daniels and the Smoky Mountains. So we knew connecting local legends with powerful places would increase awareness and buzz. As a place where music has played an enormous role in its culture and heritage, we kept that theme within the story of each poster and creative piece.

Approach

We created a campaign that celebrates the state’s heritage and beauty while highlighting historic figures, milestones and traditions. To stay human-centered, we invited state residents to share their untold, personal stories of the moments that made the state feel like home to them. Participants were rewarded for sharing their unique memories with one of three limited-edition posters.

Using Tennessee artists, the custom posters had a unified design with patriotic state colors depicting unique icons for East, Middle and West, TN. We expanded the brand across the website landing page, a custom logo, social media posts and a video featuring the beloved Dolly Parton. The campaign successfully established and deepened citizens’ connection and perceptions of the state.

Poster Series named “Best of Show” by AAF
Campaign, Poster Series, and Brand Identity awarded Gold & Silver 2022 Addy
Tennessee 225 posters

Each of the three posters: West, Middle, and East.

Tennessee 225

What a labor of love; to be tasked by your home state to celebrate and commemorate their statehood. I’m so proud of the creativity, collaboration and craft that we brought to this program. It was met with critical acclaim and the National ADDY Award was the cherry on top.”

Joseph Nother
Joseph Nother
Principal & Exec. Creative Director, Founder
Tennessee 225 logo designs
Photos of cities and natural areas in Tennessee

We explored numerous marks and ensured each of the three grand division of Tennessee were well represented in visuals.

Tennessee 225 website
Tennessee 225 mobile website screenshots
Tennessee 225 website
The people who made it happen.
  • Joseph Nother
    Chief Creative Officer, Co-CEO
  • Ben Maxey
    Art Director, Lead Motion
  • Stephan Zerambo
    VP Interactive
  • Hunter W. Foster
    VP, Media & Communications