Case Study

C.W. Matthews

Getting Georgia Home: Brand Refresh
(Scroll)
arrow Back to all work

Project Overview

FieldWrk Brand Foundation FieldWrk Brand Infrastructure FieldWrk Brand Performance

Client Project Details:

Industry
Heavy Highway
Services
Brand Strategy, Brand Culture, Verbal Identity, Visual System, Website, Production
Company Size
1,500+ FTE
Valuation
$1B+
Website
cwmatthews.com
C.W.M. in circle above CONTRACTING CO. rectangular box.

Laying the Foundation for the Next 75 Years

C.W. Matthews has been paving Georgia’s roads for over 75 years. But even the strongest brands need a fresh coat of paint now and then. Our challenge was to honor their indelible legacy while sharpening their message, modernize their look, and help them attract the next generation of talent.

Highway bridge construction with cranes amid green hills, sunny day.
Workers spread asphalt on road; vehicles parked behind them.
Six construction workers in vests and helmets pose on a dirt site.
quotation mark
Our design team was challenged with preserving the essence of the original logo while also ushering it into the next century. We made subtle adjustments to enhance the logo’s impact on modern audiences and improved scalability for real-world applications.
Lee Ard
Creative Director at FieldWrk

Brand Foundation

FieldWrk Brand Foundation FieldWrk Brand Infrastructure FieldWrk Brand Performance

A Deep Dive into the C.W. Matthews Culture and Legacy

We don’t do branding from behind a desk. Our team spent six days in Georgia, walking job sites, talking to employees, and leading a brand workshop with the organization’s leadership. Our goal was to understand what makes C.W. Matthews unique, and translate that into a refreshed brand with messaging as powerful and real as the work they do.

What We Did

  • Stakeholder Interviews
  • Strategic Workshops
  • Brand Audit
  • Competitive Audit
  • Employee Interviews
Two workers walk beside traffic barrels and excavator.
Man in yellow safety shirt operates excavator at construction site.
Two construction workers talk by industrial equipment outdoors.

Defining C.W. Matthews Culture and Employer Value

Two truths stood out: C.W. Matthews is all about serving the community and their people, building local roads for the state of Georgia, and careers that support families. From these ideas, we developed a clear purpose statement, a tagline, and a set of core values that define the company for employees, recruits, and the industry at large.

What We Did

  • Category Definition
  • Idea Worth Rallying Around®
  • Positioning Statement
  • Purpose, Vision, and Values
  • Strategic Narrative
  • Verbal Identity
  • Key Messaging
Aerial view: cleared land, dense forest, construction vehicles on dirt path.

Brand Infrastructure

FieldWrk Brand Foundation FieldWrk Brand Infrastructure FieldWrk Brand Performance

Refreshing a 75-Year-Old Brand

Their original logo had history. Decades’ worth. Our job was to modernize it without losing what made it iconic. We refined and simplified, preserving brand equity while ensuring it worked seamlessly across everything from heavy equipment to business cards.

What We Did

  • Creative Direction
  • Logo Design
  • Visual Brand System
  • Brand Guidelines
  • Motion & Animation
Yellow excavator rear with CWM logo and danger signs.
C.W. Matthews Contracting Co. logo with
C.W.M. in a circle above CONTRACTING CO. on yellow.
Two “CWM Centennial History” books: one closed, one open.

Capturing the Story with On-Site Media Production

C.W. Matthews’ brand is more than a logo — it’s their people, their work, and their promise to communities in their home state. Over six days, our media team filmed, photographed, and documented the real story of C.W. Matthews, capturing the scope of their operations across Georgia.

What We Did

  • Creative Strategy and Delivery
  • On-Site Photo & Video Shoot
  • Overview Video
  • Library of Video Footage

 

Bulldozer moves dirt at sunset amid dust and sunlight.
Smiling construction worker in safety vest and hard hat with shovel.
Three team members joke around on a dirt road near a truck.

Watch Overview Video

play

Brand Performance

FieldWrk Brand Foundation FieldWrk Brand Infrastructure FieldWrk Brand Performance

Building a Website That Works (Hard)

With more than 130 pages of original content, the new C.W. Matthews website wasn’t just a facelift; it was a full-scale digital overhaul. 50+ recruiting-focused pages, an interactive careers quiz, and seamless applicant tracking system integration. The new website is built to promote, educate, attract, and hire the next generation of Georgia’s road builders.

What We Did

  • Web Strategy
  • Site Design and Development
  • Custom Content Management System
  • Interactive Careers Quiz
  • Applicant Tracking System Integration
Dark-themed page inviting users to take a C.W. Matthews careers quiz.
Construction workers build road as sidebar shows company commitment.
Laptop and phone show C.W. Matthews website with construction scene.

Moving Branding Forward. Getting Georgia Home.

C.W. Matthews didn’t just refresh their brand — they fully embraced it. From small changes on business cards to a palpable shift in the recruitment process, the new brand system is being lived out every day and carried forward, without losing the legacy that built them.

6
Days Shooting On-Site
800+
Edited Photos
130+
New Website Pages
50+
Unique Pages Focused on Recruiting

We’d love to hear about your business challenges and see if we’d be a good fit to help you out.

Let's Talk
Let's Talk
The(o)