Build
Create recognizable dealership and promotional brand assets that could carry through years of changing campaigns.
Case Study / Long-Term Brand + Automotive Marketing
MELHAMBELTONFORD.
Thirteen-plus years of creative stewardship across identity, campaigns, print, digital, community initiatives and video—while the dealership grew from fewer than 100 vehicles a month to a peak of 425.
Creative DirectionBrand DevelopmentCampaign CreativeGraphic DesignPrint + DigitalCommunity MarketingMotionVideo
13+ YEARSNot a campaign. Stewardship.
The business story
Creative work
that moved cars.
When I joined Mel Hambelton Ford, the dealership was selling fewer than 100 vehicles a month. Over the course of more than thirteen years, I worked across the dealership's creative and marketing ecosystem as the business changed, grew and ultimately reached a peak of 425 vehicle sales in a month.
Starting point<100 Vehicles / Month
Peak volume425 Vehicles / Month
Relationship13+ Years
ScopeBrand + Campaign + Community + Motion
01 / THINK IT.
Thirteen years changes the assignment.
This wasn't one launch, one rebrand or one seasonal promotion. It was sustained creative ownership across years of changing inventory, offers, audiences, media and business priorities.
The job was to keep Mel Hambelton Ford recognizable while continually giving customers a reason to pay attention. That meant developing promotional identities, campaign systems and dealership creative that could flex from immediate retail messaging to community programs and longer-form brand work.
Adapt
Translate the brand across print, digital, event, community and motion work without losing continuity.
Perform
Keep the creative connected to the business objective: attention, traffic and ultimately vehicle sales.
Identity + promotional branding
A dealership needed
more than one mark.
Across the relationship I created promotional logos and supporting identities for the dealership and its initiatives, including work that became part of the company's primary visual presence. These systems had to work just as well on a screen as they did in retail advertising, events and production.
02 / MAKE IT.
The brand had to work every day.
Automotive retail doesn't wait for a pristine campaign calendar. Creative has to move with inventory, offers, seasons and sales priorities. Over thirteen-plus years I produced a wide range of retail advertising while maintaining a recognizable dealership voice.
The selected work here is sales-focused on purpose: immediate offers, dealership promotions and the kind of recurring retail creative that had to perform day after day.
Community + campaigns
Sell locally.
Show up locally.
The work also extended into community and nonprofit-sponsored initiatives. Those projects gave the dealership a presence beyond transactional retail advertising and created another reason for the brand to be visible, useful and remembered in Wichita.
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More than static creative
The work
moved too.
Video and motion were part of the same long-term creative system, from dealership promotion to event work and seasonal campaigns. The source archive includes the 2018 High School Tailgate Party, Black Friday teaser, summer creative and branded end slate.
For this build, the video section is intentionally staged for our later streaming-media pass rather than loading large source MP4s directly into the repository.
THE BUSINESS ARC<100
TO 425
TO 425
Vehicle sales per month—from the dealership's starting position to peak monthly volume during the relationship.
03 / MARKET IT.
Creative stewardship
with a business result.
Mel Hambelton Ford matters in this portfolio because it shows duration, range and consequence. I wasn't dropping in to make a single attractive campaign. I spent more than thirteen years helping shape how the dealership presented itself across channels and through changing business conditions.
When I joined, the store was selling fewer than 100 vehicles a month. At its peak, monthly sales reached 425 vehicles. Creative alone doesn't create a dealership's entire performance, but my work lived inside that transformation for more than a decade—and it was always built to support the business, not decorate it.