Buffalo Wild Wings
Great branding is like a utility player on a baseball team. In both cases, their greatest strength is versatility, adding depth and flexibility no matter where they’re used in the lineup. They can mean the difference between getting knocked out in the Wild Card round and winning the Series.
If you’re in the mood for some more meaty sports metaphors, you’re in luck. Because we’re heading to B-Dubs.
Buffalo Wild Wings had just adopted a new visual identity and marketing strategy, refining its messaging, colors, and iconography. They turned to us to make sure that their in-restaurant experience matched this recent rebrand.
Our job was to take their in-restaurant television network and trivia game, and then reinvent each with a new feel that mixed the heat of the kitchen with the thrill of the game.
Case Studies
The Design, Detailed
Buffalo Wild Wings is bold, loud, social, and fun. Our job was to extend this feeling to the restaurant’s most valuable real estate: the many, many, many screens located inside each location.
Our work for BWW came in two halves: First, we started with by rebranding their in-bar TV network, and then their weekly trivia night event. In both cases, the design needed to ensure that the in-restaurant experience matched the brand’s new feel and strategy.
Our goal was to translate the primal enthusiasm of watching sports with friends inside BWW into every animation, logo, splash screen, bumper, and interstitial.
The result is a design that’s strong, high energy, and intentionally playful — Just like Buffalo Wild Wings.
OT Network Rebrand
Like a team with a first round draft pick, the restaurant’s in-bar network was in need of complete transformation. Buffalo Wild Wings wanted a network that could serve the sports fan of today and tomorrow, covering everything from the gridiron to e-sports.
The logo, bumpers, interstitials, and even the name were overhauled, as the restaurant launched the OT Network.
We collaborated with the team at Inspire Brand / BWW to craft a total network package that captured the new feel of the parent brand, while making something original and distinct.
OT’s branding feels like an organic extension of the restaurant, incorporating textures of the renovated interior architecture. Everything about the network, from the animation to messaging, is bold, large, and in-your-face.
Blazin’ Trivia Branding
Once our rebrand of OT Network was complete, we almost immediately got to work extending our knowledge of the Buffalo Wild Wings brand to help launch their new Blazin’ Trivia program.
We created a design that packed the punch of OT Network across the interactive app and in-restaurant screens.
Everything from player instructions to question screens and category cards were overhauled.
This was a complex task. We worked hand-in-hand the team at BWW and the developers at FanHub to make sure that pre-recorded video, live-streamed HTML 5 questions, and iOS/Android app all felt like they fit as naturally together as ranch and Spicy Garlic wings.
What makes branding memorable isn’t a great logo or an attractive color scheme (although, don’t get us wrong - those are important too). It’s the experience.
Brand extensions like OT Network and Blazin’ Trivia help the experience of going to Buffalo Wild Wings feel like an event.
Our thanks to the team at Inspire Brands for a winning collaboration.