FROM MULTI-BILLION-DOLLAR PLANS TO A FOLDING TABLE
Hoot and a Holler is a Texas-based communications agency. We're led by creatives who've worked on two of the biggest transit expansions in Texas: Project Connect including Austin Light Rail, and METRONext in Houston.
WHAT PEOPLE HIRE US FOR
We work with the agencies leading and explaining these projects, and the firms hired to plan and build them.
Commute and mode shift campaigns.
Carpool, vanpool, transit, bike, telework.Enrollment and benefit communications.
Getting people signed up and keeping them there.Public involvement.
Open houses, comment periods, service changes, construction impacts.Board and executive communications.
Presentations, briefings, and the documents behind them.Translation and accessibility.
Managed, with vendors and standards we know.Grit and humor.
A healthy mix of big thinking and down-to-earth application.
HOUSTON AND AUSTIN. TWO OF THE BIGGEST EXPANSIONS IN TEXAS.
Our Creative Director Joshua Hughes wrote for METRONext, Houston METRO's $7.5 billion expansion plan, while the region was still deciding whether to fund it. He wrote the website, the public event materials, the executive booklets and presentations, and the voter-facing advertising. Houston approved the plan in November 2019.
Our Head of Design Victoria Romero Valadez has supported Austin's transit expansion since July 2019. They supported and enhanced the visual identities of CapMetro services MetroRail, MetroRapid, Pickup, and MetroMusic—all within the parent brand.
Romero designed promotions large and small for CapMetro’s and Austin Transit Partnership’s Project Connect campaigns, over the course of the pandemic and beyond. Campaign milestones included multilingual marketing for virtual and in-person community open houses, communicating bus and rail improvements with branded maps in mailers, and the 2022 McKalla Station groundbreaking at Q2 Stadium.
They also supported ATP with project and brand management, art direction, annual reports, and vendor oversight.
OUTREACH,
THE IN-PERSON KIND
In 2023, the Harris County Toll Road Authority put a street team in grocery stores and cash payment centers, signing people up for EZ TAG toll tags face to face, reaching customers who were never going to do it online.
That team needed a one pager, a flyer, follow-up emails, social, and more to send people their way. Enrollment work, the same as a commute benefit or a transit pass, just with a folding table instead of a landing page.
WE'VE WRITTEN THE COMMUTE PITCH FOR A WHOLE REGION
The Houston-Galveston Area Council needed people to try a bus, a bike, a carpool, a vanpool. Anything but driving alone. The audience was people with a car in the driveway and a choice to make every morning.
So Joshua skipped explaining the program and talked about what you get back. Money in your pocket. An hour of your evening. Not showing up wrung out. Written at Langrand, a Houston agency, across radio, social, and display.
“Ever since I started using the park and ride to get to work and back, I don’t come home exhausted from fighting traffic. Instead, I feel relaxed, refreshed, and ready to spend time with my family. I’ve got more energy than ever, and I’m using it to do the things that are most important to me. Click now to learn how you can too. Brought to you by the Houston-Galveston Area Council.”
— sample spot for Pandora Radio
WE’RE CONNECTING WITH EVERYBODY WHO NEEDS TO GET SOMEWHERE
Some people choose transit. Some depend on it. A campaign that only speaks to the first group leaves out the people who need the information most.
MADE TO WORK FOR EVERYONE
One of Romero’s responsibilities at ATP was making public reports and documentation reachable to a wide audience. They ensured accurate language translations and the accessibility of communications to as many Austinites as possible.
Romero worked with the agency's translation vendor so that transit-specific language came back accurate in Spanish, Korean, and Vietnamese—instead of approximately right. They also learned about accessible design via GSA, MicroAssist, and self-training to handle accessibility remediation in house, and wrote the standard operating procedure for it.
Romero worked through the procurement process to help secure sole source justification to keep translation and accessibility with one vendor, fulfilling ATP’s Section 508 obligation and leaving less room for errors.
CONTACT US IF YOU NEED
Literature for street team outreach that meets people face to face
Small and large-format promotional materials: street signage, on-vehicle placards, mailers, print ads, conference materials, swag items, and social media content, in multiple languages
Internal and external materials that pass ADA Title II and Section 508 requirements (WCAG 2.1 / 2.0)
Web design, illustration, copywriting, casual photography, design thinking leadership—just pass us your ideas!
TELL US WHAT YOU'RE UP AGAINST
Email H&AH
Howdy@HootandaHollerCreative.com
We say what we mean, and we make work that gets people to lean in and listen. Your down-home, acid jazz creative consultants.