rethinkstrategy
Where are you going, and why will customers choose you?
"We just need more ads."You need to know who comes back, and why.
Retcon Studio: rethink strategy, reimagine design, rebuild systems.
Build the logo. Each of the three shapes is one service. Drag a shape onto its outline, press it to place it, or keep scrolling. Or choose Solve.
Agency-level strategy, design and systems for small businesses, from someone who's run the floor.
01 — The method
threepieces.
Nearly every job runs through all three, even "just a logo." Strategy decides what it has to say. Design makes it look right everywhere it shows up. Systems put it to work, and what we learn feeds the next round.
reimaginedesign
How does it look, feel and show up?
"We need a prettier logo."You need one look that tells the same story everywhere.
rebuildsystems
The programs, tools and training that keep your business running and your customers coming back.
"Launch it and we're done."Launch day is day one.
Strategy → Design → Systems → repeatProjects are scoped, not packaged. Every engagement gets a written proposal with a fixed price before work starts.
02 — Selected work
thework.
One client, all three pieces. Arcana is what a full engagement looks like: the research behind the brand, the brand itself, and the systems that keep the taproom full.
Arcana Brewing Co. · Carlsbad, California
arcanabrewing co.
A tarot-themed craft brewery. Every release is its own card in the deck, and the brand had to scale to every new release without losing the plot.
rethink strategyMarket research · Positioning · Brand strategy · Growth planning
reimagine designVisual identity · Can label system · Illustration & art direction · Website
rebuild systemsDigital menus (MenVu) · Tarot companion app · Mug club · Off-sale retail
Art and creative direction by Chris; illustrations AI-directed and composited in-house, with custom card frames, typography and brand book.
Case study in production
Case study in production
03 — Track record
i've sat inyour chair.
Twenty years on the operations and marketing side of hospitality before I ever worked at an agency. The numbers below are mine, not a client's.
20+Years across casino operations, marketing leadership and brand strategy.
+10%Year-over-year net win from a player reinvestment overhaul with the GM and CFO, Santa Ysabel Casino.
#1Hoodang Festival: a cross-promotion I conceived that produced the casino's largest drop ever.
114Live table games run as swing-shift Pit Manager, Pechanga Resort Casino.
- 2015 — nowRetcon Studio · FounderStrategy, design and systems. Omaha, NE
- 2015 — 2022LittleGuyBranding (now LGX) · Brand Strategist / Interim Creative DirectorDirected the agency's own rebrand to LGX
- 2011 — 2014Santa Ysabel Casino · Marketing DirectorTeam of 12; property rebrand; Rewards Club overhaul
- 2010 — 2011Pechanga Resort Casino · Swing-Shift Pit Manager114 table games; dealer-string assignment system
- 2003 — 2010Harrah's · Table Games ManagerIowa & California; co-led shift evaluation and training
- 2002 — 2003infoUSA · Marketing DirectorThree divisions; direct mail, trade shows, client retention
- EducationUniversity of Nebraska–LincolnBachelor's degree, Advertising
- ProfileFull profile on LinkedIn (opens in a new tab) ↗Resume available on request
04 — About
what a retconactually is.
Retroactive continuity: going back into an established story and rewriting it so everything after makes better sense. It isn't erasure, and it isn't starting over. It's finding the story a business should have had, and making it true.
I'm Chris Thomas. I spent twenty years on the operations and marketing side of hospitality: managing table games for Harrah's, running a 114-table pit at Pechanga, then directing marketing at Santa Ysabel, where reinvestment strategy, the brand and the events calendar all ran through my office. After that, I was the brand strategist an Omaha agency called in when a client was stuck.
Retcon has been my studio since 2015. I'm based in Omaha, I'm a photographer and illustrator, and I do the thinking and the work myself. No account layer, same phone number the whole way through.
Most designers have never run the floor. I have.
05 — Start a project
build yourscope.
Pick the pieces you need. Not sure? Pick all three, or none, and just tell me what isn't working.