The holidays are a time for giving, so Brunet-García is spreading the season’s joy to clients with a gift to give to their loved ones.
A merry menagerie of creatures are the stars of holiday cards the agency’s clients can send to those they love.
“Brunet-García’s holiday gifts are all about giving love. Giving love back to the community or giving a little love to our clients—warming them up with coffee, Cuban cooking, or a little holiday spice,” said Associate Creative Director Aerien Mull. “This year we wanted to celebrate by giving our clients something to give away.”
Each greeting card portrays an enchanting creature paired with a well-known holiday icon to form a delightful pun.
- Candy Crane
- Jingle Bear
- Mistle Toad
- Chrismoth
- Tree Rex
- Santa Jaws
The animals’ backstories are revealed in quirky poems inspired by the playful verses of Shel Silverstein. The cards culminate with a positive message—”celebrate what makes us special”—a message that describes not only the “creatures” but also Brunet-García’s clients and their loved ones.
“The cards reflect how Brunet-García embraces diversity and how the holidays are made richer when we celebrate each person’s unique and revered holiday customs,” said Partner/VP Diane Brunet-García.
“Multiple drafts of the accompanying poems provided some entertaining ‘outtakes’ that are probably just too ridiculous or risqué to share,” Mull said. “Tree Rex was an endless source of amusement, with most of the poetry revolving around his small arms and hands.”
The creative team sourced historical scientific etchings and modified them by adding whimsical, red, hand-drawn illustrations. The project was a collective effort with each team member taking the lead on developing a creature.
“We imagined these creatures as a new species, just unveiled for the holiday season, which was the nugget of the idea that developed into using scientific source drawings,” Mull said. “We wanted to contrast the technical nature of the art with fanciful illustrations and poems to add a touch of whimsy.”
St. Augustine artist and craftsman Ryan Tempro of M.C. Pressure printed the cards using the letterpress process. Tempro graduated from Flagler College with Brunet-García art directors Bianca Borghi and Cassie Deogracia.
“We wanted the cards to have a warm, organic feeling, so we chose the custom quality of letterpress printing,” said Creative Director/VP Eduardo Sarmiento.
Each step of the process revealed the agency’s personal touch. Brunet-García staff folded and sorted the cards into sets of six, then wrapped them with hand-cut ribbon. Each set was embossed with a custom-made Brunet-García wax seal, then placed in custom boxes for shipping.
To bring the merry menagerie to life, Borghi created animations of the creatures for email and social media. Two of the images were also chosen to be made into T-shirts.
“The competition was fierce for which creatures should be chosen for the T-shirt,” Mull said. “In the end, Mistle Toad and Jingle Bear beat out the competition.”
Brunet-García’s clients can look forward to a package in the mail, but everyone can share the social media images with their loved ones, so we can all “celebrate what makes us special.”
