What’s it take to make a decades-long partnership feel distinct and new?

Work — Branding, Messaging, Copywriting | Industry — Food & Service Management | Client — Sodexo & University at Albany

When Sodexo, the dining partner and provider at the University at Albany, needed extra support in their sales process with the school, Think Integrated stepped in.

To help seal the deal on another 10-year contract, our creative team helped rebrand the school’s dining program, establishing a bold, new dining identity. The new name and look was key for buttoning up the 100-page-long sales proposal and marketing material.

In this project, I took the lead in developing the brand, establishing the new name and tagline, as well as writing copy for supporting marketing collateral.

We started with a rallying cry.

All Great Danes — past, present and future — have one thing in common.

You came here to do BIG things. You’re entering Great Danes Dining, hungry for life, and maybe even that breakfast burrito. From farm to chef to you, all our food is chosen with care, prepared with passion and served with the dedication of people who know that the way you do things, matters. This food fuels more than your appetite. It fuels your next great idea, and keeps you curious about the one after that. This food strings together strangers and forges them into your forever friends. This food fills you up in more ways than one, and keeps you coming back to do it all again tomorrow. 

This is Great Dane Dining — Come in. Chow down. Be Great. 

Next came the marketing collateral.

Our creative aimed to tackled a goal of University: Get Great Danes to sign up for a meal plan. We created pieces that would meet students where they were, writing and designing signage in the dining halls as well as door hangers for on- and off-campus housing.

Finally, the results.

Our writing and design teams created the digital proposal, editing content from the Sodexo team to align with the new dining brand and designing long-form layout across multiple sections.

With the 100-page-long proposal complete and packed with plans for the future of Great Danes, UAlbany sealed the deal with Sodexo. With our messaging, branding and design help, we played a part in the food and hospitality services company securing a decade-long, multi-million dollar contract with the New York University.