Patriot Arms
The Niche Market
Patriot Arms was founded by Ron Mitchell in Mitchell, South Dakota. Ron is a U.S. Army veteran and wanted to provide quality products and firearms education to those in his community.
the Challenge
As a relatively new business, Patriot Arms did not have any Identity or Marketing collateral to speak of. Much of their interaction with their audience is face-to-face and very personal. They have a brick and mortar location but many of their sales come from shows and conventions. They had a need for a very intense, visual presence.
the Process
Because Ron is in his target audience he had very insightful input during our initial discovery phase. Initially, he had some very specific visuals in mind as to the direction of the brand; but in this case, the visuals were very specific to him with very little connection to his target market. Lions were very important to him both with his family and military service. The first iteration was way to British in appearance and the second was visually appealing but still had no connection with his audience.
the Solution
LOGO DEVELOPMENT
We knew we needed to speak to the very specific nature of his audience. In the sketching phase one of our team members had written down the words “Don’t Tread On Me” which harkened back to the image of a rattlesnake coiled up on a background of yellow - the Gadsden & Culpepper Minute Men flag. This is a very familiar image to those in the firearms world. This approach would allow Patriot Arms to connect not just the attitude of their audience but with their values in the American founding as well.
BRANDING
Ron communicated that he wanted the logo to be versitile and able to be used in a variety of spaces. Creating both a horizontal and circular version allowes us to brand a litany of Items. We also developed a photo treatment that complimented the assertive nature of the brand.
