EPISODE 2: Butch Whitfield / The Whitfield Group
Butch Whitfield on Building an Enduring Personal Brand with Treebird Branding
Jaci Lund sits down with longtime client and friend Butch Whitfield to talk about a professional relationship that has spanned roughly 12 years. They revisit the identity Treebird created for Butch, why it has endured, and how distinctive creative work has helped him stand apart in a highly competitive real estate market.
WHAT THIS EPISODE ANSWERS
Can a Treebird brand last for more than a decade?
Butch is still using the identity Treebird created for him roughly 12 years ago and calls it “evergreen.” The conversation is a strong example of Treebird’s focus on building brands that can evolve without requiring constant reinvention.
Why did Butch Whitfield work with Treebird instead of relying only on real estate marketing templates?
Butch wanted perspective from outside the real estate industry and a brand that felt different from what other agents were doing.
Why does Butch invest in distinctive creative marketing?
He explains that his materials may cost more than what some colleagues spend, but they are also more noticeable and better reflect his brand.
WHAT THEY SAY ABOUT TREEBIRD
“It’s evergreen, baby.”
“I felt like I did need someone outside of the company and the company’s template... to establish something just a little bit different.”
“I spend probably double what my colleagues spend, but mine’s a lot more noticeable.”
FULL TRANSCRIPT
Announcer (00:08)
You're listening to Beyond the Logo. Jaci Lund, founder and creative director of Treebird Branding explores what it means to cultivate a brand that endures actionable branding advice rooted in an audience first philosophy and candid conversations with clients about the challenges they faced and the creative solutions that transformed their business. This is thoughtful strategic guidance for visionary business owners who understand that great branding isn't launched. It's cultivated. If you're ready to invest in branding that creates lasting impact, you're in the right place. Welcome to Beyond the Logo.
Jaci Lund (00:46)
So this is Butch Whitfield, realtor, philanthropist.
Butch Whitfield (00:50)
Philanthropist. I like that.
Jaci Lund (00:52)
Angel.
Butch Whitfield (00:53)
That I'll go with.
Jaci Lund (00:54)
Yeah, sometimes.
Butch Whitfield (00:55)
Sometimes. Well, when there's an angel, there's always the other shoulder. It's a balance in my life.
Jaci Lund (01:01)
Yeah. You're a dear friend to me and I'm so excited to chat with you today about branding and marketing and things. We actually have been together professionally for like 12 years.
Butch Whitfield (01:13)
Okay. So I was at lunch just the other ... I was talking, I was coming on your show and I was the president of Harry Norman. She and I were chatting and I was like, "Yes." You were talking
Jaci Lund (01:22)
About me as
Butch Whitfield (01:22)
The president of Norman. I was like, "I'm going to go see my marketing guru." And she looked at me and was like, because we have this extensive marketing department. And I said, "Well, listen, she did my branding. When I work out of the office, this is who I'm going to use." She's done my branding, I guess, for 10, but 12.
Jaci Lund (01:37)
It's like been 12 years.
Butch Whitfield (01:39)
Okay.
Jaci Lund (01:40)
And our first project and we've done all sorts of things since. I mean, we've been to Europe together. Yes. And we're going to go other places, lots of costumes and silly times. But we started ... The reason why I wanted to talk to you is also because I love you so much, but we did that logo for you 12 years ago. That was our first project.
Butch Whitfield (02:00)
It's evergreen, baby.
Jaci Lund (02:01)
And you're still using it. And so talk about it.
Butch Whitfield (02:05)
It's been in Boston now on a second round of leather binders. Nice. Just got them in the mail from a place out of New York. Yeah, it's beautiful.
Jaci Lund (02:14)
Yeah, it's been great. Well, and that's kind of like our whole mission. We want to create brands that endure and there has been changes because it used to just be Butch Whitfield and now it's the Whitfield Group.
Butch Whitfield (02:26)
Witchwitfield Real
Jaci Lund (02:27)
Forum.
Butch Whitfield (02:27)
Yes.
Jaci Lund (02:28)
Quick edit.
Butch Whitfield (02:29)
Yes. But
Jaci Lund (02:30)
Everything has for the most part remained the same, which is-
Butch Whitfield (02:33)
It has. I mean, the colors also were something we gave a lot of time and thought about. The stairs aren't obviously stairs. There's a lot of things that are and strangely, not strangely, it's contemporary yet it's traditional. It covers all the bases.
Jaci Lund (02:50)
Everything we want to. Because that's how we felt about you too. And especially the type of homes and clients that you work with is that you work with both people that are looking for that very modern aesthetic in a home, but also traditional. And so it makes me happy to hear that that is still part of the way you see it, is that we wanted to marry those two things together. Tell me about how do you stand out as an agent in the world?
Butch Whitfield (03:18)
So I just came from a lunch at St. Cecilia with some of the top producers of our company and we were talking. It's so good. Couple glasses of wine got me revved up for today. We were talking about that and I think it's always trying something new. And that's one of the things that I noticed when beginning working with you was that that's not like what a lot of other agents do. They rely upon their companies to establish their brand, give them direction on what to do, which is great by all means. However, I felt like my first time getting out of the company to do something different, I was working with a buddy Harrison Perry who was doing a PR. And so he got me on lists, the PR lists.
Announcer (04:04)
So I
Butch Whitfield (04:05)
Was doing stuff and getting in front of people. And if you're lucky enough to be that person who doesn't have to pay those people to get you into those types of situations, I mean, that's how I knew all my friends. That's how I got to know Kelly, which is how I got to know you, which was honestly my core group of friends I've always said has been so pivotal or I've gotten to know them because of the fact I've been doing these kind of things in real estate and getting out there. So because of Harrison and then you were second to that because I felt like I did need someone outside of the company and the company's template for a website to establish my brand, to establish something just a litle bit different
Announcer (04:43)
Than
Butch Whitfield (04:43)
What everybody else was doing. And the other reason too that I felt like we were a good partnership is because you were in hospitality and everyone else was going after marketing and like real estate. And for me, I felt like you were giving perspective from someone outside the industry into mine and that's what I found to be very valuable.
Jaci Lund (05:05)
Yeah. It's funny, the hospitality industry, I think it's so much because it's what we were initially known for, but because of people wanting that approach, like creative people wanting that approach for their business and having a more of a lifestyle aspect to their brand, getting to see it there, seeing that we were creative and that we could apply it to any industry.
Butch Whitfield (05:27)
And now we're also more into the world of experiential life or experience. And back what, 12 years ago, it was mostly about hospitality in terms of like-
Jaci Lund (05:40)
We care.
Butch Whitfield (05:41)
We care. Right. Family services, convenience. Now it's just like, it's much more integrated. It's all the aspects into one. I mean, I think most people understood that a real estate agent is also a therapist, potentially a financial planner, all those things. Most times an interior designer and all those things.
Jaci Lund (06:03)
What a good segue.
Butch Whitfield (06:04)
Yay. What's next?
Jaci Lund (06:06)
To one of our favorite marketing pieces we ever created for you.
Butch Whitfield (06:09)
Narrow that down for me.
Jaci Lund (06:10)
The Many Hats of Bush. Oh,
Butch Whitfield (06:11)
The Many Hats of Bust.
Jaci Lund (06:12)
Yeah.
Butch Whitfield (06:13)
That one got so much notice, honestly, around the country.
Jaci Lund (06:17)
Yeah. It was a piece we wanted to do something different for Butch that would stand out, represent the brand. And you were talking about this exact same thing about how, because we were also became a client of you and you were talking about all of the things that go into it. I'm your therapist, I'm your architect, I'm your landscaper, I'm your mom. And so we developed this card and it's a pinwheel and at the bottom of the card is Butch and the pinwheel spins.
Butch Whitfield (06:43)
Because you also knew that I loved ... I have a vast collection of hats and costumes in general. So it really did fit with the brand.
Jaci Lund (06:50)
Yeah, you were on brand. And so all these different hats and it would say what the hat represented and it was just such a different and unique way of getting ... But it was because of us just getting to know each other's businesses so well that you were able to let us get weird.
Butch Whitfield (07:06)
Oh, well, I mean, there's so many experiences like this too, like the Ryan Riverboat Cruise. If you're not my friend, you know that I was thinking, I was always thinking about doing something different. Let's start another passion project and that was to become a travel agent. Wow, that's a lot of work. And so when I approached you with it, we exchanged trade for business and when we branded that, that was cool. That brand was cool. We just didn't-
Jaci Lund (07:30)
It was the Rhine Devous.
Butch Whitfield (07:31)
The Rhine Devous. I was telling someone else about all the themed events we had too, which was Pirates on the Gang Plank, Pirates and Gang. Was it ... Gosh, I've forgotten what they are now. I don't
Jaci Lund (07:41)
Know. There was something about gold because that's when I had the gold dress and spun around and fell on my ass. There was Pirates. There was ... Oh,
Butch Whitfield (07:49)
Well,
Jaci Lund (07:50)
There was a later hose in-
Butch Whitfield (07:51)
Just Go Later Hosin Party.
Jaci Lund (07:52)
That's what it was because it was pirates was the theme for the Pride Parade, wasn't it?
Butch Whitfield (07:58)
Yes.
Jaci Lund (07:58)
Because we got to go on a barge and witness the Amsterdam Pride Parade, which is in ...
Butch Whitfield (08:05)
In the canals. In
Jaci Lund (08:06)
The canals.
Butch Whitfield (08:06)
With my parents and their friends, us and our friends.
Jaci Lund (08:09)
It was a really good on- brand experience. Oh
Butch Whitfield (08:11)
My God. That was such an amazing experience. It was a good
Jaci Lund (08:14)
Time. It was. So how do you balance all of these crazy ideas and wanting to stand out and do different things and being consistent?
Butch Whitfield (08:25)
Well, my mother would say that because I do complain that my husband doesn't have the same speed of ideas that I have. And she said, "Butch, if you were two of you in your relationship, you would implude." So Mike is that- We need our break
Jaci Lund (08:40)
Pumpers.
Butch Whitfield (08:41)
Yeah, he's the brake pumper. And so what maintains balance is probably the philanthropy part because that makes me feel better about ... I can focus on something else other than just work. Those are probably right my passions, my hobbies. I don't know. I mean, I don't know. The older I've gotten to, there really is no
Jaci Lund (09:05)
Balance. No. Someone said recently about basically screw balance. It's not a thing. Harmony. Harmony. Because things are always going to be shifting in your personal life, in your business life and that let's just let them be harmonious and support things where we can support them because it will never actually be
Butch Whitfield (09:24)
Balanced. We aspire to it. Yeah. Right. And we're going to acknowledge- What does it make you feel
Jaci Lund (09:28)
Bad if you're out of balance? No.
Butch Whitfield (09:30)
Well, what is it? It's like you could be doing things as opposed to you should be doing things. So what's the saying? Don't should on yourself.
Jaci Lund (09:38)
Yeah.
Butch Whitfield (09:39)
Have you heard of that one?
Jaci Lund (09:39)
Yes. Okay. That's a good one. Probably your mom told me also a really great real estate agent.
Butch Whitfield (09:45)
Shout out
Jaci Lund (09:45)
To Nancy.
Butch Whitfield (09:46)
Yeah. Hey, Nance.
Jaci Lund (09:47)
Hey, Nance. Love you, girl. So another thing that came up when I was brainstorming, what are we going to talk about today was about how basically we've talked each other off of some ledges using our expertise of our business brands. And so I was thinking about, well, the hats of Butch was one of them where there was maybe some doubt on your part.
Butch Whitfield (10:13)
Oh, that's?
Jaci Lund (10:14)
Yeah. You were like, "I don't know about this. " And I had to-
Butch Whitfield (10:18)
I forgot about that. Because it was so long ago.
Jaci Lund (10:20)
It was a while ago and I know I pushed you in that direction and I remember you calling me and saying, "So I'm not often
Butch Whitfield (10:29)
Wrong." Maybe that's why I erased that memory. Yeah,
Jaci Lund (10:32)
Maybe. And I feel like that opened a door for us to get to do even more outside of the box things when it comes to your holiday mailers, which we always real take our time doing those, but other mailers or we did your agent as a house and other ways to connect with people marketing wise with your brand that are different than what other people do. And so I wanted to say that to be fair, when we were purchasing my house, you had to talk me off the ledge as well. You yelled at me a little.
Butch Whitfield (11:06)
Oh, did I?
Jaci Lund (11:07)
Yeah.
Butch Whitfield (11:07)
Wow. I don't remember
Jaci Lund (11:08)
That. I'm glad you did though because people were talking in my ear about like, "What are you doing? Why would you go over that side of town, blah?" And then you basically were like, "Shut up."
Butch Whitfield (11:19)
Really?
Jaci Lund (11:20)
You're buying this house.
Butch Whitfield (11:22)
Wow.
Jaci Lund (11:23)
Yeah. I don't remember being that forward with you. There was a lot of trust, I feel like. But yeah, you were very forward. I think it also has an apartment downstairs too. And I remember you repeating a rental property or something. You have an income generating property.
Butch Whitfield (11:40)
Listen to that advice. It sounds very wise.
Jaci Lund (11:41)
Yeah. It was very wise. I'm glad I listened to it. But then the point of me bringing this up though is one of my favorite memories is that we created a holiday card, not a holiday card for you. Well, we had done it for ourselves, but then we did a card for you with the bubble wrap in it. So there's that part in the negotiation where everything is hard. Yeah.
Butch Whitfield (11:59)
You did it. You said the holidays were stressful. Take it out on this. And I was like-
Jaci Lund (12:03)
And we put bubble wrap in the card
Butch Whitfield (12:05)
That we sent. Yeah. And I was like, "Oh, this translates really well." The challenge for me is though when it's stressful enough, because I take on my client's stress, I forget to send the card. It's almost like I need that easy button and send me a card and send them a card too.
Jaci Lund (12:20)
But you sent it to me when I was freaking out though. This is a while ago. So here I was getting challenged by you, which rightfully so, I'm glad that you didn't listen to me and talked to me off the ledge and then I received the thing I made for Butch's company, which is a card that's like, "This is hard. Selling a house is tough. Take it out on this. " And so I popped all the bubbles in the bubble wrap
Butch Whitfield (12:45)
Because I don't remember the last time. I know I have a stack of them supply. Let's
Jaci Lund (12:50)
Revisit those. Yeah,
Butch Whitfield (12:51)
I think I need to revisit and I think I just need to send them out more frequently. Even if I don't feel like they're stressed, they probably are and just aren't telling me.
Jaci Lund (13:00)
So let's get into, what does branding mean to you?
Butch Whitfield (13:05)
Branding is a ... It's more like it's like who you are, but how you communicate that to other people.
Jaci Lund (13:13)
Yeah. Is
Butch Whitfield (13:13)
That how you feel?
Jaci Lund (13:14)
Pretty much. That's pretty solid. Yeah. I mean, I could get really woo-woo about it is that I see any business is its own entity and the brand is its being. It's like it's earthly being, right? Right. Okay. But also it's exactly that. It's personified. It makes it digestible for people. And how do you maintain these standards of your brand and the level of service that you bring when ... I mean, I guess that's just the nature of it. Markets fluctuate. How do you use your brand to help weather those storms?
Butch Whitfield (13:45)
Well, it's surrounding yourself with people that are professionals in their industry and the people that you trust and then so that you can rely upon them without ... I don't need to be a specialist in everything or be a profession ... Not professional is the wrong word. Yeah, specialists and everything, just surround yourself with people who are.
Jaci Lund (14:01)
Yeah. Solid. Okay. I love it. So if someone was starting a business, what advice would you give them from a branding standpoint?
Butch Whitfield (14:12)
Well, having a business plan so that you ... And it's three parts to a business plan. They're almost like three independent business plans. You have your health, you have your personal life in terms of where you want to be personally and then professionally too. So health-wise, it's like what your plans are in terms of how you're going to eat or exercise and then because you're going to need that plan because to then work into your business plan, that's going to wear you out. So you got to make sure you have that one. But then there's the long-term other plan, which now I forgot what I've talked about.
Jaci Lund (14:48)
I like this. It's a very holistic approach about like, okay, you have to have your personal health taken care of first or it's like Maslow's hierarchy of self that you have to have these things covered first.
Butch Whitfield (15:01)
I'm glad you know that one. Yes. Yeah. So then the personal one, it's like, so when my husband and I would go up to the family farm over Christmas, it was conveniently at the end of the year, we would be stuck in the car for three, three and a half hours and mom would say, "Okay, let's talk about our three, five, 10, 15 year plan." And we've been together 22 years now. So we used to do this every year and sure enough, we accomplished these things aside from our home health plans and our business plan. So it's been pretty amazing and strangely enough, we're selling the home that we've had now for 22 years from which we could afford to do all these things
Jaci Lund (15:41)
Where
Butch Whitfield (15:42)
We leveraged the house to send them to school for us to buy our other two homes. You're knocking at your dog if you don't know where you're aiming. And then sometimes if you aim too long, there's another one that says ready, fire, aim, because you could be aiming too much and then forget what you're doing. You just, sometimes you got to make mistakes and mistakes help you grow too.
Jaci Lund (16:03)
Yeah. So what I'm seeing with a lot of clients too is that they're not getting the conversions or if anything at all from online campaigns and things because basically AI generated content, people are not connecting with it. They are just tuning it out and it turns into robots, talking to robots, which I see a lot of from a lot of agents. I just feel like you've done such a good job of avoiding a lot of the same kind of pitfalls that I see a lot of folks do in your industry. What is a strategy that's working for you? How are you able to connect so well with other people? I feel like you use your brand to connect and develop these relationships is so long term. What's the secret
Butch Whitfield (16:44)
Sauce? Well, it's constantly finding something new and different in the industry goes back to almost how we, my motivation when we first met is finding something outside of the norm, but be prepared to fail. I mean, gosh, I've had plenty of those and I was just reading this book lately that talks about the road to success is a lot of failure. So to fail a lot are those experiences you need to be successful. And I read that chapter. I was like, "Oh, good, good. I'm going to be successful at something soon because I've had a lot of failures." But from every single one of them, I learned something.
Jaci Lund (17:19)
Yeah. What book is this? I'm going to put you on this
Butch Whitfield (17:22)
One. It's called Grit.
Jaci Lund (17:25)
Oh yeah. I've got it on my shelf. Haven't
Butch Whitfield (17:27)
Read
Jaci Lund (17:27)
It yet.
Butch Whitfield (17:28)
Yes. I think I'm nearing the end on that one.
Jaci Lund (17:30)
Nice. So tell me about Root.
Butch Whitfield (17:32)
Root. Root local. We are making strides with this. We're four years in. We are an environmental group based on collective impact. We are developing a network map through which both for- profit and nonprofit organizations in the city can register so that when you want to become involved or eat at a restaurant or you just want to know what's going on around you, you can go, it's called EMA. It's the environmental map of Metro Atlanta and from that you can, it's essentially the green pages of Atlanta. We're developing this right now. So of course, like with any organization, we're building our funding. We just acquired two new board members. We've had our third consecutive year of a board retreat.
Jaci Lund (18:15)
Nice.
Butch Whitfield (18:16)
And it's growing and it's quite amazing. It's really cool to see this. And our current executive director has really focused on MMA, the environmental map to be that thing that we were, because we were challenged to like, "Well, who are we? What are
Announcer (18:29)
We? "
Butch Whitfield (18:30)
And this is the platform from which we can build and the goal too is to take it nationally or internationally because it's really just a digital platform for registration.
Jaci Lund (18:42)
I love that you're like the way you referenced it as the green pages and so where does your passion for environmentalism come from?
Butch Whitfield (18:49)
I don't know because apparently it's been happening as a kid. I noticed even as a kid, my mom was, we were using paper towels for something. I was like, "Mom, we should go get some linen napkins or cotton napkins." So we went to the big lots and they're like a dime a piece. This was before Ikea in the '80s. And so mom was like, "Yeah, this is how you started basically. You were noticing the waste." And we were recycling before my other friends were. I don't know where that came from. I think to me it was just obvious. Is
Jaci Lund (19:20)
It Captain Planet or something back in the day?
Butch Whitfield (19:22)
No, I mean, I was in a little town in North Carolina. I mean, we had a farm, so I understood what living off the getting fresh fruits and vegetables was like.
Jaci Lund (19:31)
Yeah. Well, it's so interesting too that here you've put so much of your heart and soul in building the brand on the real estate side and then taking that experience and doing something so vastly different and it has so much potential to- Well,
Butch Whitfield (19:45)
We're recycling houses.
Jaci Lund (19:46)
There you go.
Butch Whitfield (19:48)
The ultimate recycling. When clients
Jaci Lund (19:49)
Used to refer to houses,
Butch Whitfield (19:50)
Used houses.
Jaci Lund (19:52)
Yes.
Butch Whitfield (19:53)
Yeah. Used houses.
Jaci Lund (19:54)
Yeah. Yeah. Well, I guess, yeah, I mean, there's about to be a lot of used houses on the market, right? I was figuring it out.
Butch Whitfield (20:00)
Well, the inventories, it's creeping up there. Yeah. We're approaching a balanced market. Interest rates hopefully will be changing here soon too. There'll be a quick stint, but who knows what strange outside factors are going to affect us next.
Jaci Lund (20:13)
Where do you, I guess, find the inspiration to stay so engaged? I mean, you clearly love this industry, but-
Butch Whitfield (20:22)
The health plan part of my business plan, my life plan. I have to go to the gym every day because that clears my mind and just work out that anxiety over certain things. It's just balancing the stress. It is such a stressful job. You take on people's energy and their stresses all the time.
Jaci Lund (20:44)
Well, it's the biggest transaction someone's going to have and it's a personal one. It's the biggest personal transaction.
Butch Whitfield (20:52)
Oh my gosh, and I'm experiencing that right now. It's a bonding experience. I said, "Gosh, this is so hard. It's just so challenging or something." And someone associated that with me not getting along with Mike. And I was like, "Oh no, no. Mike and I are great." We have our- Yeah,
Jaci Lund (21:06)
You're triumphing over
Butch Whitfield (21:07)
Adversity. True. Yes. And anything with money when people are diving in, you are comparing yourself like, "Where should I be in life and is this enough money?" And of course, you feel very exposed And now with social media too, it's like I don't necessarily want people to know what I spent on my house or what my house sold for. So now I see where people are very sensitive to those things because of course I've got ideas about if someone's looking for a home, my mother threw out this idea to me was to help this family find a home. They're
Jaci Lund (21:44)
Organs.
Butch Whitfield (21:44)
It was an orphan project. And so putting the parameters in there and it's like, I'm going to snap your picture, put it on Face Instagram, on the in web and we're going to say, "You're looking for home. It looks like this, this, this, this and there." And I was like, "Why wouldn't you want to do that? " But now I'm in their shoes. I'm like, "Oh." I don't
Jaci Lund (21:59)
Want everyone to know
Butch Whitfield (22:00)
What I would be looking for. Absolutely. Yeah. I tell you, I'm learning a lot this past couple of weeks when it comes to the process because I haven't done this in a while.
Jaci Lund (22:09)
Yeah. I mean, it's probably good to refresh every once in a
Butch Whitfield (22:13)
While. Yeah, it is. I mean, I know the process. I know the legal parts. It's the emotional part that is underestimated.
Jaci Lund (22:20)
Yeah. Well, let's talk about Treebird process for a second too. Good seg. Why do you like working with us?
Butch Whitfield (22:27)
The reason was initially is because like I said, it was finding a different perspective on real estate and letting you give me your ideas on how I should be doing it in terms of marketing.
Jaci Lund (22:42)
Well, trust is one of our core values and so to hear that back and I agree, it is a very trusting relationship and those are our favorite kind of people to work with. We're like, they trust us. We can do what we know is right for this. You also trust us to screw things up too.
Butch Whitfield (22:57)
I mean, you know what happens? We are always inventing new ways to do things. When it came to the house, this is our first time putting something together that pulled out because I found an advertisement for another real estate firm or something and they of course had like a billion dollar marketing budget. I was like, "How do we do this with my budget?" And then you said, "Well, we do this, this and this. " I was like, "Okay, that's great." But then when we first did the prototype, the colors didn't line up, but the thing is, it's like no one else was doing that. The little pop out for Christmas this year for the audience listening, it was Play on Elf as the theme. And so Elf was on there and you
Jaci Lund (23:38)
Pulled- It was such an engineering challenge and then masterpiece. But yeah, Butch is an elf and he's on the chimney and then when you pull him up, the lights turn on in the house with the paper and then yeah, trying to get that to line up or it was something that was like, "I know this is going to work and you let us do it. "
Butch Whitfield (23:58)
The pop-up holiday card?
Jaci Lund (24:00)
The pop-up
Butch Whitfield (24:00)
Holiday card. We opened up a satellite office in a residential tower because people would just walk in thinking they could just go to the concierge and see anything in the building that they wanted. So instead she just pushed them across the hall to us. So we had this holiday card because it was two towers. It was at the Mayfair and those two towers popped up and we had them decorated for Christmas. Nancy was with us, so I think we had an homage to Hanukkah too. Anyway, that was a good one.
Jaci Lund (24:26)
Yeah, that was a good one too. But yeah, I feel like I always respect, and you always are so fun to make these things for because we would never just send out a card. It has to do something because it has to make that emotional connection and it's so intentional what we're doing with just a piece of mail, which is why sometimes it takes us eight months
Butch Whitfield (24:45)
To do it. And truly, I probably do, and I spend probably double what my colleagues spend, but mine's a lot more noticeable.
Jaci Lund (24:52)
Right. And people know about
Butch Whitfield (24:54)
It. It's fun.
Jaci Lund (24:54)
Yeah.
Butch Whitfield (24:55)
I think we did the hats of Butch again for holiday this year. They were all the different elf hats, but the same thing with the different teammates on the card and the year we did cartoons for everybody. Nobody else liked their cartoon. I was fine with mine. It's amazing how-
Jaci Lund (25:10)
How dare they?
Butch Whitfield (25:11)
How they were thinking about themselves and how they wanted their caricature to look.
Jaci Lund (25:15)
No one is looking at it as closely
Butch Whitfield (25:18)
As you think. I was like ...
Jaci Lund (25:18)
Yeah.
Butch Whitfield (25:19)
Okay, whatever.
Jaci Lund (25:21)
We won't do caricatures again.
Butch Whitfield (25:23)
Oh, I was fun with one.
Jaci Lund (25:24)
All right, we'll do it again. You always let us do cool stuff, which I like because I feel like you've seen the result You get to see, you're able to make connections because you made an impression and you let us be weird.
Butch Whitfield (25:40)
Well, I am weird.
Jaci Lund (25:42)
So what's your favorite color?
Butch Whitfield (25:44)
Tangerine. The
Jaci Lund (25:46)
Color of your brand. Why? My
Butch Whitfield (25:47)
Brand. Well, it goes well with blue and navy and brand. It goes well with a lot of other colors. Yeah.
Jaci Lund (25:52)
It's very sporty color.
Butch Whitfield (25:53)
But honestly, I do more white and blue probably. Blow white, blues and greens.
Jaci Lund (25:58)
It's interesting because I do associate orange with you because of your brand for all of these years, but it's such an energetic color. It is. But be careful with it because if you look at orange for too long, it will make you hungry. Just be careful.
Butch Whitfield (26:12)
Well, speaking of hunger, I've lost mine since moving. In the middle of my move, someone last night said, "You look skinny." I was like, "It's because I'm moving." It's been moving. It feels like a divorce. It's like I was racing around. Yeah, I don't need to tell you about how it is because everybody, most of them have moved. I haven't moved in 20 years.
Jaci Lund (26:32)
That's a lot of stuff.
Butch Whitfield (26:33)
Dude, we were unpacking, my contractor over and his brother had a trailer and so we were loading up this trailer and we're hauling crap out of every crevice in our house in the attic and all of them ... It's so funny. All of them have a season on it because it's either a costume or decor with that season and he just started laughing because I was like, "I know we love a holiday and we love a costume." We love a costume really. Because all of these were just decor related crap.
Jaci Lund (27:04)
That's hysterical.
Butch Whitfield (27:05)
Yeah, it is.
Jaci Lund (27:06)
But yeah, you like a theme.
Butch Whitfield (27:07)
I love a theme.
Jaci Lund (27:08)
Which is probably why you're so good at branding.
Butch Whitfield (27:10)
Well, cocktail parties are boring unless you have a theme. And who wants to sit around and drink? Anybody can do that.
Jaci Lund (27:15)
Right. That's not memorable.
Butch Whitfield (27:16)
No, it's not memorable.
Jaci Lund (27:17)
Yeah. Well, what's next? What you got cooking?
Butch Whitfield (27:19)
Well, we're moving. Therefore, we get to decorate a new home. We are really excited about this. I get to ... It's an older home and we love vintage. Micah's from New Orleans. I've always felt home there and this home is old, which I love and someone else has redone it. Nice. We just get to do the
Jaci Lund (27:41)
Putty
Butch Whitfield (27:41)
Stuff.
Jaci Lund (27:42)
Yeah.
Butch Whitfield (27:42)
Yeah.
Jaci Lund (27:43)
Yeah. That's awesome.
Butch Whitfield (27:44)
And it's right in the middle of the neighborhood. And if you haven't been to Porch Fest, Porch Fest in October is one of the best ways to spend a weekend and it's right there on the main strip, big front porch. Love it. And the key to Porch Fest is knowing what bathrooms to use around the neighborhood. So if we did have a band out, I think I would just rent one of those Porta Johns.
Jaci Lund (28:06)
Yeah. Yeah. You could get the whole trailer and be the king of the
Butch Whitfield (28:09)
Neighborhood. Oh, boy. Okay. If we can find somebody to underwrite that empty.
Jaci Lund (28:12)
Yeah. Yeah. Why not? Just like find a bathroom sponsor.
Butch Whitfield (28:17)
Yeah, bathroom sponsor.
Jaci Lund (28:18)
Yeah.
Butch Whitfield (28:18)
If you're interested, DM me.
Jaci Lund (28:23)
Well, thank you so much for coming in
Butch Whitfield (28:24)
Today. Oh, is it already done? Talk
Jaci Lund (28:26)
About. Yeah.
Butch Whitfield (28:27)
Oh my gosh.
Jaci Lund (28:28)
Easy peasy.
Butch Whitfield (28:29)
Yeah.
Jaci Lund (28:29)
Yeah.
Butch Whitfield (28:29)
Well, one of the cool things about working with your friend is then you get to work with your friends, friends and your friend's family. In fact, I was just texting your mom this morning on a text with you about some things. I also
Jaci Lund (28:41)
Text
Butch Whitfield (28:42)
Your
Jaci Lund (28:42)
Mom about stuff too. She's like, "How's your whole life going? " I'm like, "Let me tell you.
Butch Whitfield (28:47)
" Yeah. It's pretty awesome that you're such a strong friend. I
Jaci Lund (28:51)
Love
Butch Whitfield (28:52)
You so much. And we're friends with our parents. Yeah.
Jaci Lund (28:54)
That's beautiful.
Butch Whitfield (28:55)
Yeah, it is.
Jaci Lund (28:56)
And it started with a logo and putting a house on the market.
Butch Whitfield (28:59)
Through another friend.
Jaci Lund (29:00)
Yeah. Thanks, Kelly. Yes. Appreciate you.
Butch Whitfield (29:03)
And
Jaci Lund (29:03)
Now we're going to Antiga.
Butch Whitfield (29:04)
Yeah.
Jaci Lund (29:05)
Oh my
Butch Whitfield (29:05)
Gosh. We're taking another trip. I forgot about that.
Jaci Lund (29:07)
Yeah. Let's brand it.
Butch Whitfield (29:10)
Boy, I'm so teary. I don't know why.
Jaci Lund (29:12)
Aw, I love you. Love you too.angel.
Butch Whitfield (29:15)
Thank you for having me
Jaci Lund (29:16)
On your show. You're the best. You're the best.
Announcer (29:18)
Thanks for listening to Beyond the Logo. If today's conversation sparked something, a question, an idea, or the realization that it's time to cultivate a brand that truly reflects who you are and connects with the audience you're meant to serve, we'd love to hear from you. Visit treebirdbranding.com to get in touch with JC and the team. Your brand deserves more than a template. Let's grow something that lasts.
