We were brought in on this project to define the brand, design the identity, and create appropriate methods in which the brand could interact. Starting with some great research, strategic work and the naming of “Rev” done by IDEO, the challenge put to us was to completely rethink what a health and wellness program could, and should, be. And represent this graphically, with the appropriate voice, through interaction online and offline, and help launch the new brand (with Lee Weinstein and Associates) to 14,000 employees.

Health and wellness programs provided by large corporations to employees often felt mandated, yet this commitment to healthy choices isn’t always represented in the work environment, supported by managers, and simply not “fun.” The Apollo Group didn’t want this to happen, and understood that in order for people to want to make health and wellness a priority, people had to feel it was their program, not a mandated program. To overcome these obstacles, we set out three goals the brand needed to represent:

Once we had these goals, we developed the identity to represent the Collective Cheer, and came up with ideas on how it represented Opportunity… placing the mark near elevator doors, directing them to the stairs. Next to water fountains. On baskets of fruit in the breakrooms. As signage in the farthest parking section from the office. And Everyday Play encouraged group walks, hopscotch in the hallway, challenging other groups in friendly competitions. All of this is an effort to let the employees own the program, show the accessibility of it, and demonstrate the support by management.

Of course there’s an interactive component as well… an online resource for health and wellness information, along with ways for employees to support each other in a health and wellness social network, where people can see the accomplishments of their peers and support them, as well as offer help to each other if setbacks occur.

There’s a quote from Eating the Big Fish, by Adam Morgan, that states:

“We are talking about symbols of change: Challengers deploy icons and symbols specifically to prompt reevaluation.”

Our goal with Rev wasn’t to create another health and wellness program, but to reevaluate what a health and wellness program could be. It wasn’t simply creating a brand, but creating a brand that interacts.

You can see more images from this project in our portfolio: http://findsubstance.com/portfolio/rev/

Erin and I were invited to present at the AIGA Shift event here in Portland on May 25th (the slides are above). With an overall subject of “sustainability,” we sat down and thought about our own actions and how we’re being sustainable. Are we being sustainable? We’re not printing thousands of brochures, so we’re good, right?

Well, not really. Erin did a bit of internet sleuthing and came up with some big numbers on power consumption from the computers that create online content, hosting facilities that route and contain the content, and the computers that consume the content. Unfortunately, a majority of the electricity used to power these devices is created using fossil fuels. And while we’re innovating our way to renewable energy sources like wind and solar, are we simply trying to innovate our way out of the problems that innovations over the last couple hundred years have put us in? Instead of replacing our existing power sources with new power sources so we can keep on consuming, maybe we need to think about a fundamental culture shift: not what we’re going to do with all this energy, but why we need all this energy.

This has led us to consider the way we, as professionals in the interactive industry, communicate. At its core, the more efficient our communication, the more sustainable it is. Here’s what we try to do to be more efficient:

Understand the audience beyond demographics and sit down and have a conversation with them. Engage where they are and realize why they’ll want to engage.

Talk to fewer people, but communicate to the people that matter.

Act as a champion for communication that matters. You are the advocate to create meaningful communication.

If we, as the leaders of communication, aren’t rising to these challenges, we’re simply creating more waste: wasting time, energy, and our opportunity to use communication that means something to people.

UPDATE: AIGA captured a bit of our presentation on video (thanks!). Check it out:

Understand that we set out to build awesome interactive solutions, not win awards. But sometimes doing great work comes with the burden of accepting awards for what we do. It’s a rough life.

Travel Portland 2010 President’s Award

Recently Travel Portland gave their 2010 President’s Award to RideOregonRide.com, the all-things-cycling site we’ve been working with Travel Oregon on for the last year or so. We’re really proud of our work on this project and our relationship with Travel Oregon to make it happen, not just because it provides a resource to find cycling routes and activities in Oregon, but in the ways it has helped support local communities around the state. We’ve heard stories of how the site has led travelers to find cycling resources and arrange trips to experience the diverse and awesome cycling we have in our state. And that’s really the goal… create something that helps support the people and communities of Oregon through tourism dollars.

You can read a bit more about the award on BikePortland’s site, and we’ll fill in the details as we know more. Looking back to last year’s winners, we’re stoked to be in such good company!

2010 Webvisionary Awards

This is the third year of the Webvisionary Awards, the awards component of the WebVisions conference (which celebrated its 10 year anniversary – congrats!). And for the third year, we’ve walked away with a coveted Robot (pictured above), this year in the Business category for our work on Oregon Bounty. Our other two finalists (Ride Oregon in Social and Are the Blazers Playing in Viral) came up just short. What can you do…

Congratulations to all the studios and their clients who won awards and were nominated. We’re thrilled we can help make Portland known as an amazing city of talented interactive design and development agencies.

But before you show up, we’ve got some helpful tips and ground rules, whether this is your first Show & Tell or you’ve been to each one. The short answer is: Respect. Respect the presenters, each other, and the space. If you do those three things, everything will turn out great. If you want more information…

Timing

Doors open at 6:00pm. Not 5:50pm. Not 5:30pm. 6:00pm.
The first presentation takes to the “stage” at 7:00pm.
Each presentation lasts a MAXIMUM of 10 minutes.
There is approximately 5 minutes between presentations.
We plan on doing four presentations before intermission (which will happen around 8:00pm), then three presentations after intermission. Intermission lasts approximately 15 minutes.
Last call is at 9:00pm. Lights out at 9:15pm. You don’t have to go home but you can’t stay here.

Attendance

Like last time, we’re going to get some chairs. Not fifty chairs, but some. If you get here early, you’re welcome to sit on one. They’re here for your enjoyment. If you desperately need a chair, maybe plan on getting here early to grab a seat. Or maybe you can work out some kind of trade deal with someone occupying a seat.

Talking about getting here, we’ve closed the RSVP list to those who replied via Upcoming (and a few who replied via Facebook). These lists have been printed out and will be at the front door. If you marked yourself as “interested” or “maybe attending,” that’s not the same as RSVPing; it means you didn’t RSVP. We’re not trying to be sticklers, we’re just trying to observe the safety of our guests and honor the fire code set out to keep everyone out of harm’s way. We hope you understand the limitations of our space.

If you RSVP’d: Great. Please get here before 6:45pm and we’ll check you off the list. Because we want to let in those who are interested but didn’t get to RSVP, if you get here after 6:45pm you forfeit your guaranteed position and must wait per our “one-out, one-in” policy.

If you didn’t RSVP: We’re going to try and accommodate you. Really. After 6:45pm, if people who RSVP’d aren’t here, you get to come in. Once we reach capacity, we will have an “one-out, one-in” policy: when someone leaves, someone else can come in.

Our Presenters

Each of our presenters from the future will be sharing their foresight from 2020. Please respect the effort they’ve put in to their presentation by not having side conversations during the presentation. If you need to make a phone call or absolutely must tell your friend something, step into the foyer or something. Everyone will thank you for this.

Our presenters for this Show & Tell are:
Perry Gruber: Ten years? How about a hundred?

Amber Case and Aaron Parecki: Non-Visual Augmented Reality with GPS and SMS

Jonathan Bean: Portland Institute for Practice Innovation

Matt Anderson, Struck/Axiom: Five Half-Baked Ideas from the Future

Jeremy Pair, PAIR dialog: Dear 2020, You’re living in The Sixties man

Stacy Westbrook, Thoughts And Deeds: 2020, The Future and Your Ass

Brian David Johnson: Why Will the Future Be So Cool? Easy… TV and Robots!!

Location and Facilities

Show & Tell is held at Substance World Headquarters / 1551 SE Poplar Ave. It’s right on the edge of Ladd’s Addition, behind Cafe Castagna. Since we are on the edge of a residential neighborhood, we ask that you respect our neighbors and arrive/leave in an orderly fashion. There is parking around the neighborhood, just observe posted signs for where you can and can’t park.

As we stated above, the event is held at Substance World Headquarters. This is where we work. It’s basically our daily home for creativity. We welcome you into our home. We’ll provide some beverages. In return, we ask that you admire our office but leave things where you find them. They’re probably someplace specific for a reason. Anyway, we appreciate it.

Also, we’ve got one bathroom. It is marked with a sign that says, “Bathroom.” The other door next to the bathroom is the supply closet. Please don’t use that as a bathroom.

Hashtagability and Foursquareness

If you’re in to hashtagging stuff, you can use #sntpdx on Twitter for Show & Tell related tweets. Also, you’re welcome to check in via Foursquare to Substance World Headquarters.. We’d love to see who was here, especially if we don’t get a chance to say “hi” in person.

—
We, along with our friends at Pinch, can’t wait to see you and share in the awesomeness of the future.

p.s. Erin reserves the right to ask anyone to leave at any point in time. He’s a loose cannon so you best behave yourself. Otherwise you better prepare for total domination.