Father

Son and the

holy smoke

Sinning for the sake of the smoke

This project originally started off as an infographic about “New Wave Austin BBQ”. It was designed to highlight these same BBQ businesses and their uniqueness that brings attention to the Austin BBQ scene.

The first approach was a standard collage style where the poster was jam packed with some sort of image or texture or information.

While I think there were some great parts to that infographic, in retrospect it was too visually busy for it to work. So moving forward I want to maintain the info but also the vibe of what the poster was trying to convey.

building out a BBQ world

I have recently been studying branding and marketing strategies to help me better understand brand cohesion and marketing funnels.

The problem that I came up with for this project was that Texas Monthly, the long standing, reigning champion of all things Texas(especially BBQ), is diversifying their brand into the condiment market to help with dwindling print sales.

Introducing the Saints and Sinner condiment line. As anyone who has talked to a native Texan long enough will tell you, we treat it like a religion. Lining up for links and brisket is not uncommon. In fact it’s the highest form of flattery a pit master can ask for.

Many would say that the innovation and creativity found at the BBQ restaurants I want to cover are blasphemous to traditional Texas BBQ. Pomegranate seeds? Kimchi? Mustard…from New York?! And so the concept of Saints and Sinners was born. Which are you? A traditionalist Saint? Or are you a devilish Sinner, ready to be converted to new flavors in your BBQ.

This would be a unique twist for Texas Monthly, but it would also highlight the new pioneers of Texas BBQ that they themselves have evangelized about to their readers.

I wanted these products to highlight the unique elements driving people to these new chapels of smoke. In my mind, this would be a rotating series of BBQ restaurants collaborating with Texas Monthly to help drive some attention and business for both the BBQ restaurant and the magazine as it diversifies it’s brand. Starting them off, are three of the four Austin hotspots I covered in my original Infographic.

‍ ‍

Saints and Sinners

Cracked Black Pepper BBQ sauce

Saints and Sinners

Pomegranate Glaze

Saints and Sinners
New York Deli Mustard

Four page feature

Tying it all into the religious element was a tight wire to cross. I wanted it to have a fun, tongue in cheek sense to it without insulting anyone. Texas Monthly’s audience is nuanced but while Texas may be a purple state, it still leans conservative and so too did my language while doing all this.