Embracing Houston
A local advertising veteran tells why he’s excited about the city.
Chuck Carlberg, a co-principal of the Richards/Carlberg advertising agency with his wife, Gayl, came to Houston as a 17-year-old when his parents moved from Los Angeles for a job in the oil and gas business. Initially unexcited about the move, he soon embraced the city, getting an advertising degree from the University of Houston and starting Smith, Smith, Baldwin & Carlberg in 1971 at age 27.
His creative campaigns have helped shape perceptions of companies, products and the city itself. An avid outdoors man and conservationist,Carl berg is a member of the Houston Parks Board, a founding member of the Quality of Life Coalition, chairman emeritus of the Buffalo Ba you Partnership and aboard member of the Memorial Park Conservancy.
Carl berg spoke with the Chroniclerecently about his pass ions. Edited excerpts follow.
Q: What are some of the top slogans you’ve come up with?
A: For Mahindra tractors, our largest client, our new campaign is “Get your work done America.” A tractor is a tool for your land. We say “Get your work done Texas” or “Get your work done Oklahoma.”
We call Buffalo Ba you“Houston’s most significant natural resource .” What I love about that is, in the city of oil and gas, we considerour most significant natural resource the Buffalo Ba you. Q: There are so many channels for advertising now. How do you get your message to stand out? A: It’s not which media works best, it’s that all media works best.
Q: If you were to market Houston, do you have a slogan?
A: We’re probably the most diverse large city in the U.S., and we’re very healthy about it. Eighty percent of us have moved here from someplace. We just fell in love with this Bayou City. If I had a line for Houston, it would be: “Houston is what America was meant to be.” Business is flourishing here. We’re doing so many things in parks and green spaces. We’re a relatively young city with all of our diversity. There are great families and foundations that give back. What a model of the future this city is.
Q: Have people’s perceptions outside of Houston changed?
A: We did the Super Bowl work for the host committee. It was a two-year project. People who came here fell in love with the city, especially folks in the NFL. We looked our best we’ve ever looked. You’ve got to give a party to clean up your house. I think you have to convince the people who live here that it’s a great place to live. This is a great quality of life here. It really has become that. The Houston Parks Board has done so much with their Bayou Greenways, where they’ve taken our nine major bayous and have done linear parks on them. That’s the great thing about bayous. They cut across all of Houston. Everybody will be affected by this. We have to take care of all Houstonians and give everybody the best quality of life we can.
Q: You recently added Houston Zoo as a client to handle its branding. Can you tell me about it?
A: At the end of last year, they did a 12-agency design firm search to give them a new identity. The Houston Zoo, on their own, their goal is to become Houston’s conservation leader. They have literally become that. They’ve got all the plastic bags out of the zoo. You can’t get a plastic water bottle out of the zoo anymore. They’re trying to make everything environmentally sensitive and correct. When we did the pitch, one of the logos they’ve always loved is the Buffalo Bayou logo. It’s a buffalo reflected in the water. It helps being a green soul and then also being able to win business from that.
It is the second highest paid attendance zoo in the country after the San Diego Zoo. We have this 55 acres that 2.5 million people visit every year, and the number is growing. I’ve always been very conservation oriented. It’ s tough in the petrochemical capital of the world, but it can bed one, and the zoo is doing it. I love the fact they’ ve gotten plastic bags out of the zoo.
Q: What are your thoughts on the now canceled University of Texas campus south of the Texas Medical Center?
A: I’m a graduate of U of H. I think that more is better. I thought it was a great idea they were coming to town. It may come back. It may not. I thought it was great for the city.
Q: Are you going to retire?
A: No. We sold our company to the Richards Group in Dallas. Stan Richards is 11 years older than I am. He asked me when I wanted to retire and I said never. He said, don’t worry. You never have to.