If you watch the TV series “Yellowstone,” then you likely know the ad for Tecovas handcrafted boots.
It premiered in November 2021 for the fourth season of the Paramount Network ranch drama and will be back during the fifth, which begins Nov. 13.
Alchemy Creative, the San Francisco-based agency behind the 30-second TV spot, launched its Jacksonville operation in January.
It aims to continue building its client base on the East Coast, said Cliff Englert, the company’s director of creative partnerships and business development.
He is seeing results.
Alchemy recently worked with The Zimmerman Agency in Tallahassee to produce a campaign for one of its local tourism clients. Englert and his crew shot the footage over three days in mid-September.
Alchemy is a self-described “script-to-screen” agency that can take on all aspects of production, he said.
With six full-time employees, it is a small company and is not planning to be an “explosive” agency, Englert said.
“We want to keep the clients that we have while finding new clients that are right for us and we are right for them. We want to be doing more work in the region. And the client wants to know that someone is physically there for them. Our long-term goal is to continue to make quality, impactful stories.”
Trevor Gavin started Alchemy Creative in San Francisco in 2010 and is its chief executive officer and creative director. His wife, Amanda Gavin, is director of operations.
The agency works with a range of business-to-business and business-to-consumer clients in technology, automotive, retail, finance, apparel and fashion, travel and hospital and health care, along with other creative/advertising agencies.
Englert joined the agency in April 2016.
He and his wife, Colleen Pettit, planned on staying in San Francisco. Starting a family changed their perspective. They have roots in Florida. He grew up in Tallahassee; she grew up in Jacksonville. Their daughter’s birth in January 2020 convinced them they wanted to be closer to relatives.
The pandemic soon made traveling out of the question. By the time restrictions eased, they saw they could work remotely and still be effective at their jobs, Englert said. Moving to Jacksonville, as well as establishing an East Coast presence for Alchemy, became viable options.
They moved to Jacksonville in October 2021. Their, son, Henry, was born four months ago. They live near Pettit’s parents, Paul and Katie Pettit. (Paul Pettit is a retired gynecologic surgeon and was integral to the founding of Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville).
Part of Englert’s job at Alchemy “is to be a matchmaker, sharing our work and talking about creative solutions,” he said.
The Tecovas TV spot for “Yellowstone” began with an email to the Texas-based company as Englert explored brands that might be a good match with Alchemy.
He believed two previous projects at Alchemy worked in their favor. The micro-documentary for Adobe, “Marfa, This Must be the Place,” looked at the small West Texas city where cowboys and artists coexist. The 60-second “The Great Awaits” spot for Orvis, which specializes in fly fishing, hunting and sporting goods, showcased fly fishermen in glistening streams.
Englert contacted Tecovas with the idea that Alchemy could be “kind of an extension to their creative teams,” he said. The response was positive.
In March 2021, Trevor Gavin and Englert started putting together ideas.
In August 2021, Tecovas said it planned to launch an ad on “Yellowstone” that fall and wanted to collaborate with Alchemy, Englert said.
The turnaround was quick. They shot the scenes in two days in September in Austin, Texas, working with a local crew that reflected a diversity that Alchemy insists on for its projects.
The result was themed “Walk Taller.”
It begins with the voice-over. “It takes about 200 steps to make a pair of Tecovas boots, but it only takes about 10 steps to fall in love with ‘em.” The boots are worn in settings ranging from rugged and rural to urban and upscale.
“Yellowstone” cast members Jefferson White (Jimmy), Jen Landon (Teeter), Ryan Bingham (Walker) and Lainey Wilson (new character Abby) all have and wear Tecovas boots on the show, a spokeswoman at Tecovas told Englert.
Austin-based Tecovas plans to open its first Florida retail store Dec. 16 in St. Johns Town Center.
The 3,006-square-foot space at 4663 River City Drive is near Dick’s Sporting Goods and appears to be a former Gap. The city issued a permit Oct. 10 to build-out the space.
