Celebrating a century of excellence and culture at Easton

“I’m sitting at my desk this morning with a big smile and hugging the finished product — THE Book of the Century! It looks so amazing!! Thank you all for the effort you put into this project — what a joy it was to work with each of you. And, what a wonderful book. I will proudly place it on my coffee table as a reminder not only of the company to whom I’ve dedicated 30 years, but also to the memories of working with such a marvelous team to accomplish this assignment. Best wishes for your continued success.”
— Karen Griffin, Programs & Compliance Director, Easton Management Group

THE CHALLENGE: Meaningfully commemorating the 100-year landmark

In December 2019, we teamed up with Salt Lake City’s Easton to help the world’s leading innovator in sport- and hunting-archery celebrate its 100-year anniversary. To commemorate this milestone, our task was to dig deep, write, design, and coordinate the printing of a unique magazine-style book that chronicled the legacy of this family business turned sporting giant.

The good news? We had a mountain of incredible assets and execution was in the bag. The flipside? As the COVID-19 pandemic picked up speed in early 2020, gathering the assets proved to be a challenge for both our design team and the client, especially with a locked international border between us. Easton’s centenary wasn’t going anywhere, though. We had to have a finished book by September 2022 no matter what.

So we persevered.

Easton required its book to accomplish a number of things. First, it needed to be a visual feast, celebrating and contextualizing a hundred years of innovation and accomplishment in engineering across diverse sporting endeavours — including a contribution to the Apollo moon landing program! Second, it had to ring true to the countless Easton employees, archers, and superfans who know the company history by heart. And third, the book was expected to enshrine a strong road map of the Easton values to educate new employees about the company’s beginnings, wins, and trials as well as to remind stakeholders — including family members, suppliers, and distributors — of the stories that built the brand and continue to protect its still vibrant culture.

Long story short, we took on a complex project with many moving parts — just as Easton tackles every day. So how could we create a book that would preserve Easton’s 100-year history of events clearly and completely while looking its absolute sharpest?

THE SOLUTION: Designing a cutting-edge road map of brand values

Let’s face it, archery — whether for sport or hunting — is dynamic, skills-based, and downright cool. To match this Easton ethos, we landed on a design that was functional, modern, and visually rich, featuring a wealth of not only current and archival images but documents and stories drawn from various points of view and across the full century of the company’s history. That last part was critical because one of the biggest takeaways we wanted to generate for readers was a visually compelling road map of brand values that seamlessly emerged from a faithful chronicle.

What’s more, we did extensive archival research at the university, state, and industry levels to fill the gaps in knowledge and content in order to build a well-rounded account of events. This process was sped up with the help of two fantastic point people on the Easton team who were willing to dig deep to get us what we needed and equip us with a bounty of visual assets. In our book, that’s a surefire strategy for a successful project.

THE RESULT: A collaborative win

Despite taking flight during the pandemic, which delayed the collection of photos, this project benefited from several early success factors: We had a strong working relationship between the writer and designers as well as resourceful clients and great assets. The flippable coffee-table style book — organized decade by decade across a century of accomplishment — was a fitting format, and one that we’ve really taken to. In fact, we’re proud to add such a compelling sample to our catalogue for prospective clients.

The Easton team agrees on the joys of this partnership. “You’ve assembled a wonderful team at ECHO. I was so impressed with your ability to take a conceptual discussion and turn it into a beautiful spread,” says Karen Griffin, Programs & Compliance Director for the Easton Management Group. “It happened more than once that we only had a vague idea of what we wanted. Then a meeting with John or Cathy and Stephanie, and a general idea turned into an end result that was fantastic! It was a distinct pleasure to work with all of you.”

To get a snapshot of Easton’s 100-year journey, check out its 100 Years of Excellence page on its website, where the company shares videos, podcasts, and other content in celebration of its history.