Butter by Krystal

The ask

Krystal moved its headquarters to Atlanta. We were asked to breathe new life into a Southern icon and tie it to the city it now calls home, for real, not for show.

Krystal has been a Southern institution since 1932, but a headquarters move doesn't make you a hometown brand. The flagship at Northside Drive and 14th had to say Atlanta from the street, permanently, in a language the city speaks.

What we made

Butter by Krystal. A full redesign of Krystal's flagship Atlanta location, wall to wall, built with The Spice Group. Four ATL culture murals, a Bankhead graffiti room, custom neon that talks like the city, and a jukebox loaded with nothing but Atlanta artists.

The details did the talking. A billboard reading "You can't spell Krystal without A-T-L." The No Cap Map of Atlanta at the MARTA stop out front. Replica highway signs over the drive-thru, ATL decals on red-painted pavement, and roller skates on the shelves for the Cascade heads.

Content and brand activations pulled straight from the culture, so the launch traveled as far online as it did on Northside Drive.

What happened

A drive-thru turned into a destination. The city pulled up, posted it, and claimed it as one of their own.

Atlanta Magazine and The Atlanta Voice covered the opening, and Krystal's president called the work what it was: proof of what "a first-tier agency like Butter" brings. The build was permanent. The city treats it that way.