How Strategy, Vision and Storytelling put Mother Road Market In the National Spotlight
When Mother Road Market first partnered with VOKSEE in 2021, they were already a beloved food hall and gathering space for Tulsans for a reason — the space was gorgeous, with every single detail thoughtfully executed by their visionary CEO Elizabeth Frame Ellison.
In fact, it was such an incredible space — featuring local food and makers you can’t find anywhere else in the country — that our first action item was expanding their audience; previously they had solely focused on Tulsa and its surrounding communities, and they were certainly thriving in that space. But — we saw the potential for national attention.
Our approach was, of course, a detailed and ambitious long-term editorial strategy that included a cohesive content plan spanning every social channel. We crafted narratives that connected Mother Road Market to broader cultural conversations, positioning them as a food destination with national relevance.
The existing marketing department was filled with talented young designers and copywriters. We worked with them to recreate their approach from a holistic standpoint — looking at the in-person experience and the digital experience and how it all works together. The MRM team took our roadmap and executed it flawlessly.
We started with a makeover of everything digital. The most important thing to us was that a user’s experience with MRM, whether it be through their website, Instagram, or in person, be a cohesive one. We made everything from the logo to the images have as much life as you feel when you walk through the doors of the Market.
To bring those stories to life, we invested in high-quality photography and videography. We shared stories of the food, the chefs, the shop owners — even their families, because that’s the heart of MRM — every inch of the market was captured in vibrant detail.
After we implemented our editorial and content strategy, we turned to the physical space. We worked with Ellison to create a place where rotating local shops and vendors can pop up, and to create a connection between the building they’d recently added to expand the food hall’s footprint along Route 66. The building had our favorite characteristic: it was almost entirely a blank space.
We featured a local artist’s mural on one side of the building, and partnered with both West Elm and a local Tulsa plant store, Cohlmia’s, to bring the ultimate vision to life.
A large part of the transformation was capturing content to share for future stories. At VOKSEE we always look to maximize the investment our clients put into any of their projects, and in this case it meant a full behind-the-scenes content capture of every aspect of the build out and grand opening.
We knew with MRM and its Shops, the most important thing was interactive in-person experiences that encouraged visitors to not only enjoy the food hall, but to become part of the story.
The result? A powerful blend of storytelling, strategy, and community engagement that resonated far beyond Oklahoma. Recently, Mother Road Market was recognized as USA Today’s Food Hall of the Year — an enormous honor validating both their vision and our collaborative approach to sharing it with the world.
For us, our work with MRM is more than simply a case study — it’s proof that when you combine strategy with authenticity, local stories can have global impact.