Omega Mart
Meow Wolf Omega Mart is a grocery store-themed immersive entertainment exhibit in Las Vegas featuring over 52,000 sq. ft of multi-sensory experiences with four narrative anchor spaces, 60 unique environments, 9 portals, and 250 immersive art experiences.
Role: Brand Direction, Experiential Marketing, Digital Promotions, Signage, Retail Displays, Packaging
Notables: I led the creative design and execution for several variations of key art featured in hundreds of high-profile las Vegas placements. This $million outdoor marketing campaign ensured Omega Mart was the top grossing exhibit in 2023 and 2024.
Art Direction, Photo Direction, Retouching, and Digital Illustration: Amanda Raby - Senior Designer
Creative Direction: Emily Montoya | Brand Direction: Phil Jones | Marketing Direction: Drew DiCostanza
the team
Under the guidance of Drew Di Costanza, Omega Mart's marketing campaign took flight, orchestrated and executed with precision by Denae Becket. This multi-million-dollar initiative secured prime real estate across Las Vegas, from the iconic Strip to bustling airports. Not stopping there, it also made its mark in the city's most esteemed print publications and digital realms, reaching audiences far and wide.
At the helm, Emily Montoya, Founder and Creative Director, steered the ship, ensuring every aspect of messaging, branding, and visuals aligned seamlessly with our objectives.
Phil Jones spearheaded the design efforts, crafting the primary horizontal and vertical formats, while I took charge of an additional vertical format. My role extended beyond design conception to encompass the meticulous production and execution of every detail. From orchestrating the photoshoot with Kate Russell Photography to sourcing images, conducting retouching, and employing digital illustration techniques, I left no stone unturned. Moreover, I managed the expansive task of adapting and diversifying the ads into hundreds of variations and formats tailored to various marketing channels, ensuring maximum impact across the board.
the challenges
In our journey through the Vegas Out-of-Home (OOH) landscape, we encountered a challenge: confusion among audiences. Many mistook our ads for those of a conventional grocery store, completely overlooking the immersive and psychedelic wonderland that is Meow Wolf Omega Mart. The ads failed to convey the vast worlds of discovery lying beyond the nine portals nestled within the grocery store's facade. Compounding this confusion, the presence of the Meow Wolf logo on the Area15 building led patrons to erroneously equate the two brands, despite Area15 merely leasing space to Meow Wolf among other entities.
Adding to the complexity, our campaign demanded flexibility across a myriad of extreme vertical, horizontal, and square formats. Yet, the fixed landscapes within the Omega Mart worlds brimmed with diverse content, challenging us to communicate this diversity while ensuring adaptability across all channels and formats.
The GOals
Reintroduce the Meow Wolf brand alongside Omega Mart, fostering a unified understanding of the two.
Illustrate the boundless worlds awaiting discovery beyond the grocery store facade, while maintaining its visual relevance.
Clarify that the exhibit's location, Area15, stood distinct from the Meow Wolf Omega Mart brand.
The Process
Teaming up with brand and creative directors, I delved deep into the intricacies of the Omega Mart brand and its associated challenges.
Phil and I led the design of the first two images and I later led the design of an additional vertical image which replaced the original vertical format. Under Emily Montoya's guidance, we positioned core exhibit and brand elements strategically to bolster brand awareness, ensuring adherence to brand hierarchy.
We embarked on a journey of creative exploration, drafting numerous iterations of digital sketches that we meticulously proofed to the broader teams. After thoughtful deliberation, we honed in on the final art direction: Patrons stepping through portals from the store into mesmerizing collages of exhibit elements. These compositions showcased vibrant desert landscapes, kaleidoscopic rivers, rugged terrains, and surreal melting factory walls, inviting viewers into a world where reality intertwines with fantasy.
To tackle the scalability issue, I began by addressing the widest formats of both vertical and horizontal billboard sizes. Instead of developing a single image with assets that scaled in both directions, we opted for two distinct compositions unique to vertical and horizontal—allowing for scalability from their extremes down to a square format. This approach provided the flexibility needed to maintain visual integrity across diverse platforms and dimensions.
Production
With our designs drafted and direction approved, we began the next phase of our journey. I took the helm, directing the photoshoot for all internal content, while Phil assumed responsibility for overseeing the models' photoshoot.
As production commenced, I delved into the intricacies of sourcing composite images, ensuring each element seamlessly linked to our source files. This meticulous approach guaranteed that any updates to the source images would effortlessly propagate across all content. Through the art of photo-bashing, I skillfully blended these images together, sculpting a digital collage of Omega Mart landscapes adorned with composited photos and illustrated lighting.
As the mother files took shape, I prioritized scalability, ensuring the core imagery remained adaptable while the surrounding textures could effortlessly morph into various lengths and widths. This strategic maneuver enabled the creation of scalable frames for all advertisements, paving the way for the expansion of the two key images into over 200 digital, print, and oversized OOH assets across multiple channels.
Recognizing the importance of efficiency and accessibility, I implemented a systematic approach. Each image was meticulously saved in three different formats—extreme, medium, and square—ensuring versatility across all platforms. Furthermore, I curated the core brand content and image formats into a team Adobe library, empowering junior designers to effortlessly replicate and adapt the designs to any format going forward.
Later on, the marketing team achieved a significant milestone by securing placement for our iconic Touchdown Towers. These towering columns, adorned with static-wrapped advertisements, serve as prominent landmarks connecting pedestrian overpasses along the illustrious Las Vegas Strip, capturing the attention of an estimated 160,000 patrons weekly.
Entrusted with a pivotal role, I assumed the responsibility of leading the design and execution of the additional vertical composition, as well as adapting the prior version to the tower format. With Emily providing minimal oversight, I delved into the creative process, meticulously rendering the design and spearheading the campaign's execution. This revamped design ultimately supplanted the original vertical format, reflecting our commitment to continuous improvement and innovation.
The outcome
Our Vegas OOH campaign served as the cornerstone of Omega Mart's success, propelling it to become the top-grossing exhibit not only in 2023 but also in 2024. This remarkable achievement not only solidified Omega Mart's position as a premier destination but also played a pivotal role in bolstering the success and sustainability of all other Meow Wolf exhibits worldwide. By driving unprecedented foot traffic and engagement, our campaign amplified the reach and impact of the Meow Wolf brand, cementing its status as a trailblazer in the realm of immersive experiences.