Founded in 2002, The Butler Bros is a creative communications firm that specializes in messaging creation, creative development and Brand Film production.
Your brand is not fiction. The Butler Bros amplifies the true stories of brands using a documentary ethos across all media. Clothing marketing communications with authentic voice and emotion to create meaningful connections that lead to loyalty.
We sell the truth. To manifest our approach we believe that it is incumbent upon the organizations we work with to be a net innovator in their space or to have a cause at their core. We work the intersection of cause marketing and raw capitalism. It’s not enough for creative to be a brands deepest differentiator. No consultant can teach a company to give a damn.
Authenticity is our territory. Tomorrows winners will be those concerned with making a real difference today. We are most interested in working with organizations who have positioned themselves on this precipice of conscious capitalism. It’s there we will meet, begin our work together and share success.
The Butler Bros partnership began on August 10, 1974 at Seton Hospital in Austin, Texas – Marty’s birthday.
Adam and Marty shared a room for 17 years. This feature of their lives set into motion the development of a complimentary partnership. There were border skirmishes but there were also collaborations on many creative projects – notably a survivalist handbook inspired by the film Red Dawn. Adam wrote the piece and Marty art directed a boy in the neighborhood who was a gifted illustrator. The discovery of a similar journal today would undoubtedly lead to a file with an FBI field office.
Every summer the Bros would earn extra money sanding cabinets and cutting in corners for their father’s business – The Butler Painting Co. Their dad’s focus on independence, accountability and quality shaped their idea of how business was to be conducted. At home, their mother was a relentless supporter and champion of her five kids personal interests. Her knack for community building led to a Butler household brimming with extra kids – all of our best friends. Our house became a massive social networking site.
After high school Adam studied communications and leadership at The University of Texas. Marty studied mass comm, journalism and design at Southwest Texas and became president of his ATO chapter. Adam graduated UT in 1996. Marty is still three hours short of a diploma, fourth semester French being the culprit. C’est la vie.
After completing internships in various departments at GSD&M Adam began as a traffic manager. Marty followed suit and was bestowed an hourly studio art position where he continued to master his Adobe skills. The big break for the Bros came in the form of the Mazda pitch. In this high profile environment the Bros, working together in the evenings as a creative team, delivered a big idea. This chip was redeemed for their first creative titles in the business – jr. writer and jr. art director – partners to boot – The Butler Bros.
Cutting their teeth on Brinker accounts, the Bros had early success and won shiny metal awards that people in advertising are interested in. Notable work from that time included brands like Southwest Airlines, AT&T, Kinko’s, The Steel Alliance, 7-11, Pennzoil, The U.S. Airforce, AIDS Services of Austin and many others. Tons of broadcast and print. Lots of travel to LA and NYC. This went on for seven glorious years. It was one hell of a finishing school and graduate degree.
It was never lost on the Bros that you could do things just the way you thought best. Watching the GSD&M founders live their own dream motivated the Bros to heed their own inner voice. Examining the industry standard lifestyle the Bros determined it was a ladder they would rather not climb. Determined to start families and spend most nights at home in Austin with them, something had to give.
Marty left GSD&M for Oregon. He began freelancing and became a rugged creative individualist who had to rely on his artistic abilities to produce work. From painting and photography to illustration and writing Marty began to blossom on his own, freed from his rigid agency role. After briefly considering a transition from creative to marketplace planning Adam left GSD&M to travel and recharge his very depleted creative fuel cell. Traveling showed Adam how much he could rely on his own instincts for people and proved his knack for dealing with all types. One year later the Bros would come together again. This time it was under their own shingle and with a key ingredient added, their sister Bridget who functions as an omnibus general manager to the busy day to day functions of The Butler Bros. Bridget graduated from the University of Texas right after Adam with a degree in communications.
In the roughly seven years since the trip to the Texas Secretary of States office much has transpired. Campaigns launched, babies born, office space purchased, collaborations of every kind and much learning.
Ironically, their first client was Rudy’s Bar-B-Q, another Norm Brinker restaurant concept. The Bros innovation began immediately. Accustomed to having consumer research at their disposal and account people working hard to organize the efforts the brothers found themselves without accoutrement. They bought a video camera and took a road trip across the state to learn the brand and gather content. That trip yielded a multimedia campaign and new way of approaching their work for the Bros.
A flat, hands on, raw approach to understanding and communicating a brands truth was born.
They’ve never turned their back on this method of creating. Their style and success in delivering high quality creative in an enormously efficient manner has allowed them to grow a client roster that includes LIVESTRONG, The American Legacy Foundation, Jason’s Deli, NetSpend and Sweet Leaf Tea. They prefer to work with brands, organizations and individuals who relentlessly challenge the status quo – people who seek to transform the world through entrepreneurship. Their extremely well developed network of freelancers and partners as well as their own diversification as a production company and post production facility ensures that clients get access to exactly the right talent and experience at any given time.
The work speaks for itself. Please take some time and explore.