THE HOME OF WOOD
GL Veneer is a throwback delight. It’s a family-owned wood veneer company with a 200,000 square foot warehouse in LA and one of the world’s most impressive collections of trees that have been cut into very thin slices (and occasionally fairly thick slabs). Their knowledge and experience are second to none. But the industry had changed, and their business – and brand – needed to evolve with it.
After months of research we presented a strategy that literally brought tears to the owner’s eyes. More than just a sentence, we presented a fully re-considered way of looking at their business, from how to educate and use their distributors to how to create demand by speaking directly to the architects and homeowners. How to use the internet for their company, and how to drive demand for a product that literally grows AS trees.
Along the way we’ve redesigned their logo, created a website that has dramatically increased sales, helped them get their wood into every major stadium built in the last year, and got their biggest rivals to fly to California just to see what’s going on over here.
GL Site
The new GL site is a long time coming. I wanted to run it on WordPress to allow for responsive design and deep integration with all of our social media content. But their backend wasn’t making that easy. I sourced a partner that allowed us to plug directly into GL’s ordering systems while still running our own marketing content on top. Now, our custom-built species database can link directly to a sales page in a way that’s unique within the industry. Our influencers can create content that links straight from their YouTube video that involves a “buy it and build it” GL sample pack that we can get online same-day. All while making it more user-friendly for our clients who just want to be able to submit a quick order and get out.
CD/Design: David Levy
CD/Copy: Shawn Wood
Updated Brand Voice and Design
Before I worked with GL their entire brand voice had been defined by a wacky aunt who made collages. Since then I’ve redesigned everything from logo and collateral to box trucks, photographed 90% of their images, and even did some work tying their sister company Tri-State Laminating into the family.
The collage, obviously, will return on a throwback jersey.
CD/Design: David Levy
CD/Copy: Shawn Wood
Tiny House Project
The Tiny House project was an opportunity for GL to reach out and work directly with architects. We created a contest wherein entrants would design and build a dollhouse out of our wood. A sample pack was sent to start them off, but then they could ask for anything they needed free of charge. The dollhouses would all be displayed in our trade show booth and online, and the winner would receive a $25,000 donation to their local children’s hospital (along with the winning dollhouse).
This is my favorite sort of tactic – something that we create, that we alone own, and can use to tell the GL story. It builds relationships that create new streams of revenue, inspires social media content, genuine Press Releases, and is something people actually want to see and interact with. All by reframing something we’d have sent anyway.
CD/Design: David Levy
CD/Copy: Shawn Wood
GL Rating System
GL Veneer had no way of distinguishing one cut of wood from another in fewer than 114 words. Sure, they’re both Walnut, but how do I know which is the better slab? Well, this one is a 94. (head explosion)
It’s so stupidly simple that we’re shocked it didn’t exist. By using our expertise we take into account myriad factors from figuring to rarity apply a rating and drop it in the middle of a GL designed mark. The rating gets used across the board from slabs to veneer, helps customers narrow their orders to only a certain grade, and helps us call attention to our Reserve trees – the really high end stuff that can’t be replaced once it’s gone.
CD/Design: David Levy
CD/Copy: Shawn Wood
