A sponsorship can sit quietly on a sign, or it can become part of how a place looks. This was the second kind: a chance to turn shade into advertising, a branded canopy that reads as part of the venue and shows up in the skyline. That made it a design problem first, and it took several rounds of testing and prototyping to land the multi-layered canopy that gives the piece its presence.
HEB ended up with advertising people seek out instead of skip. The branded canopy is visible from downtown and from across the water at Auditorium Shores, and it reads as part of the venue rather than something added on. A genuine Austin landmark, and a sponsorship that keeps earning its place every day it's seen.
We built the original amphitheater canopy in 2020. In 2025, The Long Center brought us back to build it again with HEB's mark worked into the fabric itself — four layered pieces of fabric, backed in black vinyl so audiences underneath see clean canopy instead of reversed lettering.
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