ROLE

CD/Writer & Strategy

AGENCY

Primary360

TEAM

CD/Writer: Jess Tardy

AD: Michael Hinde

ECD: Keith Caruso.

VIBES

Affluent Country Punks

CAPABILITIES

Brand Building

Voice & Messaging

Community Engagement

Spatial UX

Wayfinding Design

Out of Home

Kairoi Residential needed a brand identity for a new multifamily community on Austin’s storied 7th Avenue that would resonate with the neighborhood’s creative community without feeling inauthentic or manufactured. The challenge was capturing 7th Avenue’s genuine cultural energy in a way that would attract residents who valued authenticity over generic luxury amenities.

Working as creative director and strategist with Primary360's team, I developed a hyperlocal brand experience that positioned the community as part of East Austin’s creative ecosystem rather than separate from it. This required deep cultural research—getting on scooters, exploring the neighborhood, understanding what made this particular stretch of Austin genuinely special rather than generically “hip.”

Our insight was that you can’t fake authentic Austin weirdness, so we shouldn’t try. Instead of creating artificial "cool," we leaned into 7th Avenue’s established reputation as the beating heart of East Austin’s creative soul. The brand strategy celebrated the neighborhood’s existing character: where high tech meets homespun meets biscuits meets pozole meets country punk meets avant-garde.

The breakthrough came when the community commissioned artist Joe Turk to create a mural inspired by Austin by way of Abbey Road. I cast some of Bat City’s current legends-in-the-making: Alejandro Escovedo, Gary Clark Jr., Tameka Jones, and none other than Matthew McConaughey (Mr. Alright, Alright himself). This created an authentic cultural touchpoint that sparked organic social media engagement—people began taking selfies walking down 7th in the footsteps of these local icons. The mural became both neighborhood art and resident recruitment tool, turning cultural appreciation into community experience and proving that authentic local connection drives more engagement than manufactured lifestyle marketing.