Ted & Wally’s
Services we provided: Website Design, Custom Photography, Video Production, Copywriting
We were stoked when we got a message from Jeanne and Joe (the brother/sister duo behind the iconic Ted & Wally’s brand) saying they were interested in chatting with us about the design of a new website. There are some solid options for ice cream in Omaha, but Ted & Wally’s is the OG. Without a doubt. Their old site had a ton of info packed into it, but the design and layout were getting on in years and the copy and imagery needed some freshening up. After a few conversations and the green light to move forward, we knew exactly what content we needed to produce to match their ideas and goals for the project.
One of the most intriguing things to us about the Ted & Wally’s brand is the depth and creativity of their flavor archive. We’re talking over 3000 unique flavors here. And all of them are created with fresh, local ingredients produced by farmers, chefs, bakers, and makers that are all very very close to home. This was something that we felt needed more exposure. This part of the story was not being told as well as it could. The average ice cream eater probably has no idea the extent that these folks have gone to make a delicious and authentic product that in turn, supports a large ecosystem of local businesses.
So we began the process by learning everything we could about the story and strategizing the best ways to convey it. We would definitely incorporate the local producer network into the website and weave that narrative with copy and custom photography. And this project for sure needed a video component. Our first thought was to do a brand film, and that solution would have worked out fine, but we wanted to take things a bit further on this one. We pitched the idea of doing a series of films that could be released throughout the year. Each film would explore the story of one of their producers. Real, authentic short films that simply tell the story of the producers, from the producer’s perspective. They signed off on this approach and we got to work visiting 12 unique makers and focused on telling their origin stories. This is organic storytelling at its finest. I give a huge high five to Ted & Wally’s on this one as they wanted to take a more altruistic approach to these films. They didn’t just want to explore the storyline of ‘how does this product make our brand better’ and focus on the end result, they genuinely wanted to tell the unique story of each producer and that is a rare and very powerful thing. Every producer we interviewed organically brought up the cherished connection to Ted & Wally’s with little to no prompting and I feel that these films are so successful because they are authentic. The most successful campaigns, regardless of medium, are achieved when this type of authenticity is allowed to manifest.
Jeanne and Joe have created an ecosystem of small local businesses that all work together to make each other stronger. In some cases, the partnership with Ted & Wally’s was the catalyst for these businesses to get off the ground and take the first steps into turning a dream into a successful business model. Working on each one of these films was truly an eye-opening experience as each of these producers spoke with authentic reverence about their relationship with Ted & Wally’s. Each one had truck loads of respect for the brand that Jeanne and Joe have built and the amount of passion, care, and creativity they have infused into their brand. Pride was another concept that was talked about a lot. As makers, these folks put their heart and soul into every product that they make and all of them felt that Ted & Wally’s put that same amount of love and respect into the final product. Rather than simply relying on an ingredient to carry the load, it is the fusion of everything that makes the final ice cream flavor a success.
We produced a series of still images in our studio for the site. One of the flavor names had us totally intrigued and perhaps a little apprehensive…at first. The flavor was Cranberry Horseradish Chèvre. I’ll be honest, this one didn’t sound like my kind of jam. I’m not a huge fan of cranberries, and while I love horseradish and chèvre, I just couldn’t see them all living together harmoniously as an ice cream flavor. Turns out, I was dead wrong. It wasn’t too savory (as I had imagined it might be) and had a very complex, but delightful flavor profile that won me over after one bite. The cranberries were soft, but not too chewy, and the overall texture was just so creamy and delightful. While working on this project, I discovered that Honey Creek Creamery is actually the brainchild behind the chèvre that goes into making this flavor what it is. This was one of the farms we had the pleasure of working with for this project, and after seeing first hand the amount of love that Honey Creek Creamery puts into their products, it simply made me love this flavor even more. And to me , that’s what is so special about this project. Each one of these producers has something amazing going on, but when forces are combined, something magical is created. Hopefully these films help their customers fully appreciate the amount of hard work, passion, love, and dedication that goes into each and every one of Ted & Wally’s flavors.
So far, we have created 12 films for this project. The website launched with one featured film, and as new films are released throughout the year, all of those films will be added to a dedicated video gallery on the website. Here’s the first film featuring Honey Creek Creamery:
We worked with a variety of ice cream flavors in the studio to create a new library of fresh images for the site and social media. Flavors that featured Culprit Cafe’s famous cinnamon roles, macarons from Grand Patisserie, biscotti from Black Bottom Biscotti, chocolate from Sweet Minou…the list goes on and on. Coolest thing about the way they do it is that they have new flavors on the menu every day so every visit will offer new experiences. And the design, location, and vibe of their spaces is a very important element to their brand, so we incorporated all of that into the site as well.
We created a website that looks beautiful and works great on all platforms. We took great care to implement key words that are very valuable to the Ted & Wally’s brand in a natural and laid back style. Whenever we work on a project that involves copywriting, we spend the time to learn the voice of that brand to successfully convey their message. On this project, the copy needed to be bright and colorful to match their style and then custom photography was created to further accentuate that. Their neon sign inspired accent colors for the website and we pulled elements from their hand-painted signage for some additional character.
