VOTE LOUD.
Have you ever wondered where we got our agency name? It wasn’t some catchy phrase that erupted from a copywriter’s brain. Our name was inspired by the classic 1968 James Brown funk song “Say it Loud.” Our founder and Creative Director Julio Lima was driving around Orlando one day and the song was playing on the radio. Listening to the lyrics, Julio knew right then and there that it was the perfect name. He had a vision for the company he was building and everything about his new agency brand was built on creative activism. Julio wanted to take this approach in helping his clients’ brands’ get heard by consumers, plus you might say he was personally known to be a bit loud and obnoxious in getting his POV across on numerous subjects.
Perhaps it was destiny, kismet or random good luck, but as fate would have it, Julio met world-renowned social justice illustrator Luba Lukova prior to an AIGA lecture she was giving here in Orlando. Luba has exhibitions all over the world featuring international social causes. Luba and Julio were the first to show up to the AIGA meeting, where they had a few minutes to talk uninterrupted. She asked him what he did and Julio explained he was starting a new creative agency named SAY IT LOUD! He talked about his creative activist vision. Luba loved both the name and the concept. And then, of course, Julio had the audacity to ask her if she would help design the agency logo. Luba accepted and the rest, as they say, is history. The One Show had over 14,000 entries from all over the world in 2003. But it didn’t stop Luba and Julio from walking up on stage together at the annual awards show in NYC to accept a Gold Pencil for logo design.
It is in the spirit of the James Brown song and in Luba’s art, that we’ve created a t-shirt featuring our vintage SAY IT LOUD! logo. It illustrates a person being gagged but still managing to raise their voice. Conceptually it supports the idea of many voices striving to be heard in this current 2020 state of chaos. The poor, immigrants, women’s rights, the LGBTQ community, Black Lives Matter. The list is long and it’s why we’re donating the proceeds from these shirts to promote voter participation. We highly encourage every American to vote, to have their voices heard, to always be proud and to always SAY IT LOUD!