SMO
AmeriCorps & Abbott Labs
AmeriCorps - Amplify the Call to Service
The Federal agency charged with administering the nation's community volunteer corps, the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) wanted to design materials for their unique “Summer of Service” concept within their elite AmeriCorps group the National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC). NCCC is the one year residential program for 18-24 year olds. The Gulf would have been lost in the wake of Hurricane Katrina late summer 2005 without these volunteers.
The “Summer of Service” program would be directed toward creating a new group of ‘ready recruits’ giving 14 to 17 year olds the chance to do a three-week summer ‘sampler’ program. For starters, I creative directed the development of the brand logo and taglines needed to communicate the energy and opportunity, while maintaining the dignity of a Federally sponsored program...
… and I provided the creative direction and writing for a variety of
marketing materials including: posters, brochures, flyers,
application books, participant handbooks,
certificates of completion…
even t-shirts.
Abbott Labs - Transform a Typical Sales Meeting
The Senior VP of Operations, new to this audience of about 850 sales representatives, wanted to come on strong in the opening moments of the annual four-day sales meeting (as just the beginning to a week filled with surprises), and he was bringing a message of cultural metamorphosis.
I designed a week’s worth of experiences around this message beginning with the theme as the first transformational message device that is, “Turn It On!” This innovative theme was first seen as a static, monochromatic graphic, and then when activated, that is - had the knowledge and benefit of all the support programs, training and incentives it, like the sales reps - became a full spectrum of animating excitement!
Features of this transformative sales meeting included:
*House band on stage throughout the general sessions for speaker play-ons/ offs and for special moments
*Special launch effects and graphic design to showcase their internal university-style training
*Comedy troupe skits to make marketing messages come alive
*A reveal experience of the destination for the next year’s top performers prize trip
*And the biggest impact of all, a teambuilding challenge that resulted in 100 local, disadvantaged kids getting a new bike, and the attendees getting back so much more in the form of appreciation and a smile from a grateful 7-year-old.
The event’s opening moment began with a “faux” stage one that was less than impressive. The new executive played up the moment, speaking softly, and fumbling with hard-to-read ‘viewgraphs’ on an overhead projector…
Then, focusing on a poor sales figure for the past year, he threw his stack of transparencies into the air saying, “As you can see, we’ve really got to turn things around!… As a matter of fact, that’s what you should do right now… That’s right, get up out of your chairs and turn this thing around!”
In the darkness, he began to strut down the center aisle pulling people out of their chairs to turn them facing in the opposite direction. As he made his way to the other end of the ballroom, the sounds of a live band began to punctuate the darkness, and behind a wide expanse of black drape there was to be found an amazing, dramatic and dimensional stage set. It was an exciting kickoff to a stellar week of transformative experiences.
Then beyond the event, I designed and
wrote a series of communications campaign
touchpoints to ensure message sustainability.
For this team, we acknowledged their “road
warrior” lifestyle – and sent audio CDs that
could be played on in their car while on the
road calling on customers.
The “Turn it On” themed audio program
included best practices discussions with top-
selling peers, training updates and words of
motivation from team leaders.
