Can you believe it? Another year in the record books, and what do we have to show for it? Well, plenty.
— February 2009 —
Recognizing the changing weather trends for Portland as just one effect of global climate change, we had the opportunity to help do something about it. Working with the visionaries at ClimatePath, we helped rebrand and reposition their company, including their new website, climatepath.org. The ClimatePath site not only has opportunities for offsetting your carbon footprint by “investing” in the carbon offsetting projects that interest you, but also has tips and support for reducing your carbon footprint. If you care about the planet and the future, check out the ClimatePath site for tips and thinking on how to reduce your carbon footprint. And if you’re so inclined, you can do a little offsetting.
As the first phase of the Oregon & Washington Central Cascades Geotourim Project, we started with the brand… “what makes here, Here?” From this, we thought about how people could submit their geotourism locations for consideration to be published in the National Geographic Central Cascades MapGuide at the beginning of 2010. Then we created the site. With over 1,100 submissions, it seems to have worked. The new Central Cascades Geotourism website will be launching in January 2010 to coincide with the release of the National Geographic Central Cascades MapGuide (more on this in the upcoming weeks).
More about the Central Cascades Geotourism Project in our portfolio
Contributing to both company culture and your ear holes, we launched the Substance Monday Mixtape on February 9th. Each week, a different Substance teammate creates a mixtape to share with the office and the world. They’re (mostly) updated every Monday, and you can check them out at mixtape.findsubstance.com. Curious about past Mixtapes? Check out the Substance Mixtape Archives.
— March 2009 —
We had this idea that we should put on an event where people could talk about what they’re working on. The result was hosting the first Show & Tell with our friends at Pinch. A little bit of data visualization, a little bit of beverage sampling, and a whole lot of cool, interesting stuff that people in Portland are working on.
Erin and Stephen traveled south to “Spring Break for Internet Geeks,” otherwise known as South by Southwest (SXSW). We met some amazing people, saw some interesting presentations, and had so many great conversations. Already looking ahead to SXSW 2010, and we came up with an idea for a quick Substance Labs project – see the next bit below…
Wouldn’t it be cool to combine the random meeting of people with the lessons learned from SXSW presentations? Yes, yes it would. Introducing SXSWLesson. We pulled this one together quickly as a way for people to share ideas. Worked so far, but we’re really excited to see how it grows at SXSW 2010.
David had the opportunity to talk at RefreshPDX about Substance, the Long Table, and how companies are changing structure to create better problem solving environments.
— April 2009 —
Continuing our relationship with the Portland Trail Blazers, as well as supporting Rip City (aka Portland, Oregon), we launched the new I Am A Trail Blazers Fan site – IAmATrailBlazersFan.com – just in time for the playoffs. Built from the ground up, the new site allows Trail Blazers fans to contribute to message boards, fan statements, Starting 5 lineups, game info, and lots more.
We like interesting stuff. So we were delighted to help organize the first Interesting PDX. Thanks to Emily Reed for asking us to participate, and to all the speakers who presented.
As part of our participation in the cycling community from a local, region and national perspective, we were excited to attend the Oregon Bike Summit and give a sneak preview of the Ride Oregon website (more about the site below). As one of the most forward-thinking states in the country in regards to cycling, we had the opportunity to meet many of the people who are pushing for cycling legislature and helping shape Oregon’s unique cycling culture.
— May 2009 —
We put on the first Show & Tell in March. So yes, we were crazy to put the second one on only a couple months later. Crazy like a fox. Just like the first Show & Tell, so many of our peers in Portland are working on amazing things. We’re glad we could provide this second forum for them to share it.
— July 2009 —
Over the summer, we had the pleasure of having Jessica Tsuji as the first Substance apprentice. We felt the term “intern” just sounded, well, junior. So we went with “apprenticeship” as we hope the opportunity to sit at the long table gave Jessica one (albeit skewed) perspective on how to work. But she can tell you better than we can… here’s her review.
— August 2009 —
The “everything cycling” site for Travel Oregon, RideOregonRide.com is an online resource for cyclists living in Oregon and visiting Oregon. From road routes to mountain biking trails to cycling-related events and cycling resources, there’s something for every cyclist and every skillset. Sometimes an opportunity arises that combines what you do for work and what you do in life into one awesome experience. Such was the case for us with the Ride Oregon Ride website.
By this point you might get the idea that we have a special place in our hearts for bikes. So it should come as no surprise that we couldn’t pass up the chance to work with new framemaker Emile Lemoine and his Beloved Cycles brand. Working with our friends at Weights & Pulleys, we launched BelovedCycles.com in order to spread the word that “every lifetime deserves at least one.”
Who likes food? Who likes drinks? If you like either, or both, there aren’t many places better to find delicious things to put in your mouth than Oregon. And to help promote the food and drink from Oregon, we launched Travel Oregon’s new online flavor-fest: bounty.traveloregon.com. Sampling the flavors across the state, you can find experiences, events and unique places to eat and drink the bounty our state provides. The site also supported the process for people to enter the Cuisinternship contest to win an all-expenses paid trip to Oregon and live the foodie dream.
August was a busy, busy month, but we still needed stuff like coffee and doughnuts. And what’s more healthy than biking to get coffee and doughnuts? So that’s what we did. Plus, it acted as an informal way to welcome the launch of the Ride Oregon website. (Like we needed an excuse.)
— September 2009 —
Bikes, bikes and more bikes. And nowhere is more bike-y than Interbike, one of the largest cycling tradeshows in the world. David went to Vegas, met some great folks, and brought us back some cool Chrome bags at cost. A win-win-win trip all around.
— October 2009 —
A “three-day series of events intended to inspire and educate on new ways of communicating with people.” That was the idea behind the New Communicators, held at the end of October. The concept came up at coffee one day, and from there it gained momentum into a fun, educational and inspirational three days. We couldn’t be happier with the results, and look to have the second New Communicators series in 2010.
As part of the New Communicators series, we held the third Show & Tell of 2009. For this one, we had an overall theme of “What Are You Doing to Change the World?” We’re fortunate that so many Portlanders are doing their part to not just talk about change, but to do something about it.
Not stopping with just creating one event for the New Communicators, we felt that since we’d been so influenced by cycling culture over the past year that we should share this with others. So we put on a panel discussion about “Creating Conversations Through the Love of Bicycles.” Bringing together some of our favorite cycling people, David moderated a panel on why cycling culture is so strong in Portland, what Portland can do for the cycling industry located here, and how people can take their passion for something and turn it into a career.
The “official” Ride Oregon launch event included a press conference at Substance World HQ, a Celebrate the Ride event through downtown and the eastside of Portland, and a reception at one of our favorite local breweries, Hopworks Urban Brewery (makers of the awesome Metrofiets bike bar). So many enthusiastic people involved in cycling came out and participated, and continue to participate through their contributions to the Ride Oregon website.
— December 2009 —
(Seriously, the last cycling thing of the year…) David participated in a panel put on by the American Marketing Association on “Marketing to and from Portland’s Unique Bike Culture.” Joined by some great Portland cycling companies, David waxed poetic on the benefits of Portland’s bike industry from an economic and cultural perspective.
— What else? —
After all that, what else is there? We’re continuing to work with our existing clients on some upcoming projects (Travel Oregon, Portland Trail Blazers, and our top secret clients). We’re working on some cool new brand and interactive projects with some new clients that we can’t mention yet. We made three amazingly talented, smart and all-around-great people full-time employees in 2009: Cory Duncan, Eric Eaglstun and Kate Jorgensen (we also lost our first employee to entrepreneurship… good luck to Shaun Tinney in 2010). We converted Erin Kurtz into a cycling commuter. And there’s probably a lot of other stuff that we simply forgot to recap in the year end festivities, which is why you should be following us on Twitter or Facebook for all the updates. But most importantly, we tried to stay optimistic in a year when not everything went as planned.
So here’s to 2009. It was an interesting year. And here’s to 2010. To quote Peter Drucker, “The best way to predict the future is to create it.” So let’s get going.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Substance, Damir Tuka. Damir Tuka said: Hey look! @jessica_tsuji gets a mention. RT @Substance: From our site… The Great 2009 Substance Recap http://dlvr.it/H4S [...]
1:13 pm / 5 January 2010
Substance also gave me the chance to enjoy a day at the long table!
Thanks again guys.
1:20 pm / 5 January 2010
Oops, sorry Shelby! We loved having you here filling in for Cory that day.
1:27 pm / 5 January 2010
Congrats on a killer fucking year guys. It’s been a pleasure to get to know you better, watch you do your thing, and know that you guys are truly a great asset to the Portland community, tech or otherwise. Here’s to rocking 2010.
1:33 pm / 5 January 2010