The Splinter Group

The Splinter Group The Splinter Group provides design, marketing and advertising services to clients who understand that big ideas don't need to come from big firms.

And that big results often follow big ideas. The Splinter Group began in 2000 after branching off (splintering, if you will) from Disney-owned Mammoth Records. After working together at the record label for twelve years as GM and Creative Director, respectively, Steve Balcom and Lane Wurster decided to get into a more honest line of work — advertising. Our idea was to take what we had learned abou

t branding and marketing music products and offer it to businesses and organizations that were interested in a more creative marketing approach. Sixteen years on, The Splinter Group has stayed true to its mission and has earned a reputation as one of the most agile, creative shops around. We tell compelling stories about things we believe in, whether it be a retailer, a restaurant, a brewery, a technology company or a band. We seek to capture the essence of our client’s work (both what they do and how they uniquely do it) and turn that into an easily-understood narrative. The story generally begins with a visual identity and is then conveyed via a variety of modes, generally dependent on budget. While we see ourselves as brand developers, The Splinter Group is a full service agency. Each and every day you will find us designing collateral, developing websites, planning media, devising PR campaigns, creating social media and loyalty platforms and doing just about anything else our clients need or want. We collaborate closely with our clients, creating custom work that is inspired by their personalities and unique approaches. We undertake this task with a tremendous sense of responsibility and respect. Over the years we’ve developed a few operating beliefs:

1) Marketing can’t be more important to us than it is to the client.

2) The worst type of client is one you don’t care about impressing.

3) The second worst is one who knows exactly what they want.

4) We’ve kept our shop small and we don’t have a B-game. If we can’t give a project our best attention, we’ll pass rather than disappoint.

5) With no disrespect to Keith Richards, Mick Taylor was the Stones’ best lead guitarist. If you’re still reading this, we should talk…

Hey music fans, the second annual Carrboro Bluegrass Festival is a little more than a month away! It’s been great workin...
04/21/2026

Hey music fans, the second annual Carrboro Bluegrass Festival is a little more than a month away! It’s been great working with Billy from Resounding Strategies to help brand and promote the event and this year a portion of proceeds will benefit our friends at The Be Loud! Sophie Foundation. Check out this year’s lineup and get ready for a great day and night of music in the Cat’s Cradle Back Yard on May 23rd.

Just found out that our Carrboro bus wrap received a second-place award in the Graphic Design category at the North Caro...
04/17/2026

Just found out that our Carrboro bus wrap received a second-place award in the Graphic Design category at the North Carolina City & County Excellence in Communications Awards! Congratulations to
Carrboro Communication and Engagement Department’s Director Catherine Lazorko and Coordinator Eve Greene, and a big thank you to Jonathan Drake for giving us such amazing photography to work with!

We’re celebrating Pizzeria Mercato’s 10th anniversary with a spiffy new t-shirt design. (Hard to believe it’s been a dec...
04/14/2026

We’re celebrating Pizzeria Mercato’s 10th anniversary with a spiffy new t-shirt design. (Hard to believe it’s been a decade since we did the branding.) Illustrator Chris cooked up this design and we had it printed by our friends at The Merch. Cheers to Gabe and the Mercato crew for ten delicious years!

Fresh merchandise alert! Carrboro Farmers’ Market just rolled out our new shirt, tote bag, poster and sticker designs. T...
04/10/2026

Fresh merchandise alert! Carrboro Farmers’ Market just rolled out our new shirt, tote bag, poster and sticker designs. The main 2026 design (which Randy knocked out of the park) spotlights the fabulous flower vendors at the Market. We also had a second design from Phil that was a nod to the founding year of the Market — based on a 1979 NC license plate — which morphed into a fun sticker. This is our 11th annual design for the Market and it’s always a highlight of our year! Swing by on Saturday morning or Wednesday afternoon and show our amazing Market some love!

04/07/2026

Lights, camera, biscuits! Here’s our brand new spot for Rise, which will run on video streaming services soon. We collaborated with the amazing Norwood Cheek and couldn’t be happier about how it turned out. Working on a Righteous Chicken/Lunch spot next!

The 29th Big Bad Breakfast location opened this week! Montgomery, Alabama is the home of the newest BBB and features mor...
04/02/2026

The 29th Big Bad Breakfast location opened this week! Montgomery, Alabama is the home of the newest BBB and features more of our design handiwork. We especially enjoyed working on custom wall panels that showcase Montgomery’s sports history. Big (bad) congrats to Danny, JC, Meighan, Daphaney and the rest of the crew on yet another tremendous opening!

We were honored to have been asked to rebrand the Music Maker Foundation's Elizabeth Cotten Freight Train Blues Concert ...
03/31/2026

We were honored to have been asked to rebrand the Music Maker Foundation's Elizabeth Cotten Freight Train Blues Concert Series presented by the Town of Carrboro and are excited to present the new logo. This is the 12th annual concert series honoring the legacy of Carrboro's own "Libba" Cotten, which features free concerts by incredible roots musicians steeped in the diverse musical traditions of the Carolina Piedmont. The concerts are held on five Friday evenings from May 15th to June 12th at Carrboro's Town Commons. Visit Music Maker's site for lineup and more. https://www.musicmaker.org/freight-train-blues/

Spring has sprung🌷 and so have new seasonal menus! We’ve been on the move here at Splinter getting content of our restau...
03/27/2026

Spring has sprung🌷 and so have new seasonal menus! We’ve been on the move here at Splinter getting content of our restaurant client’s spring menus, the most recent shoot being with These fresh new additions include Vietnamese Bo Kho, a delicious Truffle Artichoke Dip, and more exciting dishes that explore various cuisines with seasonal ingredients.

Get on over to Carrboro to check out their new food and drink options!

03/24/2026

We love springtime in Saxaphaw because that means our friends at have exciting additions to their menu! The team got to go spend some time shooting their delicious new offerings like the Spring Sangria, Chicken Lettuce Wraps, and Steak Burrito. There’s always something to look forward to there, so make sure you take your own Saxapahaw trip and grab brunch, lunch, or dinner at The Eddy!

We’re thrilled to be working with legendary chef and author Spring Council on a fundraiser weekend for SECU Family House...
03/20/2026

We’re thrilled to be working with legendary chef and author Spring Council on a fundraiser weekend for SECU Family House in Chapel Hill. The first annual Chapel Hill Biscuit Festival will be held October 24th & 25th and will feature kids biscuit baking classes on Saturday and a chef-led tasting event on Sunday. The tasting event is a gathering of regional chefs who will be preparing biscuit-based dishes along with beverages from local breweries, distilleries and more. We just rolled out our creative direction for the event, so mark your calendars for what is certain to be an incredible weekend!

Address

605 W Main Street, Ste 201
Carrboro, NC
27510

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