Get Your Cowboy On
Gilley’s Dallas

Re-branding a Texas Legend

Gilley’s was a bar/honky tonk founded in 1971 by country singer Mickey Gilley in Pasadena, Texas. It was the central location in the 1980 movie Urban Cowboy. It was a legend and in 1990 it burned to the ground. Years later it was reopened at a new location in Dallas.

Gilley’s was looking for an agency that would capture the nostalgia of the original and bring it forward to a more contemporary feel. While partnering with The Ward Group on strategic media planning, Nextwave’s visual approach centered around the legendary memorabilia, being careful not to lose the “urban cowboy feel” giving radio, billboard, print, magazine promotions an appealing urban edge. We thought about what it is that people want to do at Gilley’s. And it seemed obvious to us… “Get Your Cowboy On”.