San Francisco AIDS Foundation:
Since its inception in 1982, the San Francisco AIDS Foundation has been a beacon of hope in the global stand against HIV/AIDS. But while the landscape of the pandemic had changed, the Foundation’s identity hadn’t.
Correspondingly, the Foundation’s relevance and energy had faltered.
We hit the streets of San Francisco to engage donors, staff, clients, community leaders and AIDS event participants. We searched for the truth of the organization: how it was viewed, its value in the community, perceptions – and misperceptions. What emerged was clear: SFAF had almost lost its humanity.
So we created a new identity for the organization that focused—single minded—on humanity. Literally. The new identity system—logo, business cards, email signatures, outdoor signage— contain San Francisco AIDS Foundation’s past, present and future integrated and inseparable from the community of San Francisco. We also streamlined their complicated program architecture and delivered a new, more compelling way to talk about the Foundation and the fight against HIV/AIDS.
The impact of the Foundation is monumental. Crockett was honored to have participated in creating an identity worthy of the Foundation’s name.
But we didn’t stop there. The Foundation has fostered a strong community of athletes and volunteers with its offerings of endurance events to benefit the HIV/ AIDS cause—the AIDS/LifeCycle, AIDS Marathon, Seismic Challenge, and more.
We unified these events by naming and creating an umbrella brand: >1 (Greater Than One) that has enabled the Foundation to engage even more individuals in more events throughout the year.
There is never a dull moment at Mortar. And that is what is reflected in this scrappy brand. Dave was chartered to be the brand’s visual expressionist - so the little time there was between projects would be spent pushing the brand forward in fun and unique ways. Each week there was at least 15 minutes of fun that would be focused on trying something new with the brand. Those extra efforts could range from overhauling the new business sales deck, rethinking the business cards (again), a new computer background screen for a new hire that would meld their personality with the Mortar brand, to designing the smallest copyright protection seal, to exploring just how much fun you can have with accounts payable documents. From faux fancy to smokin' retro – the Mortar brand exploration shows just how elastic a brand can be and still hold on to it's core of being utterly cool.
WATERMILL PRODUCT NAMING AND LAUNCH
The WaterMill is an air-to-water generator. As in - it sucks water vapor out of the air, then purifies it for drinking. It’s one of those “Why-the-hell-didn’t-I-think-of-that?” ideas that’s so simple and smart it makes you want to set yourself on fire, then put yourself out with 12 liters of delicious water. A functioning WaterMill is the intersection of two elements - air and water. While this needs to be news, it wants to be art. This campaign combines both tasks using a singular photographic style coupled with lyrical headlines. The effect is a series of traffic-stopping moments - happenings - dedicated to the idea that the WaterMill makes water out of thin air.
It’s beautifully simple.
Westport: Natural Gas Vehicles Are Here And Now.
Westport used to describe themselves as a "Canadian IP" company. Which makes some sense for an organization born out of the University of British Colombia's engineering program. But a tour of their factory revealed they were much, much more. In fact what we learned was that Westport was an engine company, through and through. And these were no ordinary engines. These were natural gas powerhouses that were more efficient than diesel (read: cheaper), better for the planet, and powered by domestic fuel
Shifting Impressions.
Our research also revealed an important market perception. In 2013, Westport's natural gas engines were already being used in long haul trucks. Yet most of the world was still talking about industrial natural gas vehicles as "the next big thing." Why? Well, when your friend starts wearing mesh shirts to work, that's an obvious change. When trucks start running on new engines? Much harder to see.
Guided by these insights, we crafted a positioning that celebrated the powerful advantages of Westport engines and declared natural gas a thing of the present. The tagline, “Here and Now,” said it all. Add a custom photo shoot, and a stunning brand book and print campaign were born.
Elevating a Brand.
The white balloons are a quiet nod to clean fuel. They represent purity, clarity, and the wonder of discovery. They represent possibilities and potential. And they signify how Westport is changing transportation in cities and industries everywhere, helping make the world a cleaner place.
RENO-TAHOE USA
After 13 years of declining tourism, the Reno-Sparks Convention and Visitors Authority turned to us for a fresh approach to marketing the region. So we went out and chatted to people in the region. Looked at all the giant stacks of research they had done. We even hit the streets to speak with tourists. What we learned was this: Reno is probably not “America’s Adventure Place,” as they were claiming. It is, however, a surprisingly cool little town beneath the surface. The type of place that appeals to people looking for authentic experiences, and are repelled at the first sign of slick presentation.
Which brings us to why we rebranded Reno Tahoe this way. You don’t run buttoned-up ads and hope a buttoned-down crowd figures out what you really mean, and vice-versa. You have to ask for what you want. So our strategy is decidedly buttoned-down. It asks people looking for the anti-sanitized, -lobotomized and -commercialized to take another look at Reno and Tahoe together.
Fast forward 6 months into the new brand...
The average daily rate (ADR) paid by hotel visitors jumped by 6% for the first time in 13 years. It’s like getting an extra mint on the pillow.
Courion
Courion is the leader in identity and access management solutions that effectively and securely manage user access risk. More than 14 million users in 500 organizations worldwide rely on Courion’s access risk management solutions to align user access privileges with corporate and regulatory governance policies.
Risk is a wily and elusive adversary. It’s constantly changing and evolving. And while it isn’t always something to fear, it’s always something to be aware of.
You can choose to ignore risk, but it’s always there. And chances are, it’ll show up when and where you least expect it. Sometimes it looks like a friend, welcoming you with open arms. Sometimes it stalks you quietly, trying to remain hidden in the shadows.
Courion can help you recognize risk, in all its various disguises. Crockett pitched this work in hopes that the audience could see risk clearly and quickly measure Courions impact on their own business. And communicate that while no one can ever control risk, Courion can help you live with it and manage it.
Alliant
Ok, if we're going to work on a company that does custom employee benefits packages we are (yawn) not going to fall asleep while we work on it! No one comes to us for boring work right!?
Reno Sparks Convention & Visitors' Authority
Corporate meeting planners don’t generally wake up in the morning saying, “Reno! Nothing says “success” like Reno!” So it takes a little extra effort (and a lot of self-deprecating humor) to bring the Far From Expected City closer to the top of the consideration list. Which gave rise to these materials, created for the Reno Sparks Convention and Visitors’ Authority. And when you dive into Reno you know what you're going to find: coffee by the gallon, camels by the dozen and some world-class tattoo joints. And really folks, what more do you need for a memorable weekend of breakout workshops?
St. Mary’s Medical Center
St. Mary’s Medical Center is truly a wonder of architecture. It may be the world’s first stealth hospital. It sits squarely in the center of San Francisco, just steps from the bustling Haight-Ashbury district, and yet, no one knows it’s there. So, when the time came to refresh their QuickCare campaign and primary doctor campaign — the only successful advertising they’d ever done – we knew we had to hit the audience hard. Possibly with a blunt object.
Now if they can just find the hospital.
Coast Casino - House Rules
The Coast Casinos integrated campaign is built around the idea that there are a set of unwritten “rules” experienced players live by. (“If you can’t spot the fresh fish at the table, it’s you.”) The tagline: “When You’re Local, You Know” reinforces the overall campaign by assuming the reader is in on the joke – and reminding them of the one thing we want them to take away – Coast Casinos are where savvy locals play. The work is integrated across four properties, and features executions for ROP, print, outdoor, in-casino, transit, collateral and beyond.
Fretlight makes guitars with a special neck that lights up to show the player where the notes s/he's supposed to be playing are. An accomplished player wouldn't be caught dead with one, but your 45 Year-Old Guy Who Used To Play But Life Got In The Way? I (er, um, I mean "they") absolutely love it. It's a really cool product. The second campaign looks better on a portfolio site, but honestly, the "You're Going To Love To Practice"-direction is smarter. (If I do say so myself.) See what you think.
How do you feel when you see the Fair Trade aisle at the store?
If you’re like most people - you feel guilty. At best, you buy something to expiate your sins. More likely, you steer your cart the other way while momentarily feeling bad for the nine year-old who assembled your iPhone. After an extensive research we discovered the following:
The audience needs education - even savvy consumers have a hard time finding us - but they do not need, or want, a lecture. The tendency in this category is to scold or to scare. It can be effective, but it can also be a turnoff. The conversation tends to skew toward telling consumers all the things they shouldn’t be doing, as opposed to telling them all the things they could be getting.
So. Instead of telling our audience about impoverished farmers or corporate frankenfoods - something they’re already aware of and quite likely desensitized to - we invited them to celebrate fair trade.
When you buy yourself higher quality (and, yes, more expensive) fairly-traded products, you feel good. And you should feel good. You’re helping real people in a real way. And you’re getting better value for your money. That’s worth celebrating.
The overall strategy is highly conducive to inclusiveness and participation at every level. From inviting artists to design point-of-purchase collateral to sponsoring a fairly-traded cotton fashion design competition, everything we say and do is couched in the language of festivity. (What a great phrase. Wouldn’t you like to be couched in the language of festivity? Sure beats a lecture.) The point is - this work changes the conversation from “Do this or else you’ll feel bad,” to “If you do this, you’ll feel good.”
Arizona Department of Corrections - Recruitment
Suffice it to say, there are more than a few negatives associated with being a Correctional Officer. The pay is low, the work is depressing, and there’s a reasonable possibility that the “customers” will actually try to kill our readers if given the chance. Sure, there are upsides; solid benefits, no college degree required, and more job security than just about any other field. But the question is, how do we make a pitch that acknowledges the negative without dwelling on it? It is not enough to tout the pay and benefits and pretend the dangers don’t exist. Our audience may not be up for department chairs at MIT, but they’re not stupid. We can’t fool them into working for us. They know how dangerous a job as a Correctional Officer can be, and have reasonable concerns – “Won’t I hate this job?” “Will I be maimed/killed?” “Will I have to become a knuckle-dragging torturer?” These are negative issues to be sure, but ones that must be confronted if our promise is to be believable. This is a time for straight talk, not a time to conveniently neglect to mention things. “Think Inside the Box” faces up to the realities of the day-to-day lives of Correctional Officers, with a sense of candor, a sense of humor, and most importantly, a sense of pride. In the end, what you have is an entreaty that respects the audience’s intelligence, and accurately informs them about life in the ADC. Our honesty regarding the negative aspects of the job works to reinforce our message about the positive aspects. This work talks with our audience, not at them, and says: “You’re not stupid. We’re not going to lie and tell you that working here is a day at the beach, but if you want a solid career, we can give you one.”
One Medical
One Medical is a private healthcare group that offers concierge-level care for a yearly fee of about $149. Many of us use and love them. They are expanding into NYC, and called us up to tell us they wanted to “kick some ass” on a tiny budget. We may have kicked a little too hard. But we had fun trying. And the point here is, if you can't afford to carpet bomb your audience with bland features and benefits to make your point, you sure as better get them talking, better yet make them laugh a little. Wait! did we just make going to the doctor fun?
Rest in peace Joan. We never got to pitch this idea to you, but here's what we wanted to do. Love ya. Miss ya. Introducing Joan as YOUR sweat. Yep, how do you make a cosmetic surgery in your armpits where you fry your sweat glands to eliminate sewer pits - an advertising message to the general population? You inject humor and a bit of attitude. Many will chuckle. Those with "issues" will be instantly activated into finding your cure. Shazam... no one is grossed out - everyone has a good time. You would have made a perfect spokesperson Joan. Plastic surgery, fashion, humor... you had it all... (sigh.)
New Leaf
New Leaf Community Markets is an organic grocery store chain that began in Santa Cruz and gradually spread its way around the Bay Area. After opening a new store in Pleasanton, New Leaf saw an opportunity to introduce themselves to their neighbors through a more distinctive brand. In other words, they wanted to show people they aren’t just a mini version of Whole Foods. We started by crafting a tagline that captures their mission to deliver the freshest, most sustainable, local, and organic products possible. “Purveyors of goodness” encapsulates that idea, and gives New Leaf the approachable neighborhood feel they were after.
To draw people to the new store, New Leaf was planning an open house event. We stepped in and gave it a brand makeover, dubbing it the Pleasanton Purveyors Fair and reskinning it with a vintage, farmhouse-inspired look that translated to posters, newspaper ads, and more. Complete with food workshops, beer and wine tastings, live music, face painting, and a bouncy castle, the fair transported people back to a time when real food wasn’t a specialty item.
Remember when wooden signs were the only kind of sign?
Pleasanton residents had the chance to meet and talk with some of New Leaf’s favorite vendors, like Niman Ranch, SunRidge Farms, and organicgirl. Just like the days when you and your local butcher would chew the fat.
We designed a scavenger hunt encouraging people to learn more about New Leaf and its products in return for a free plate of naturally raised, mouth-waterin’ barbecue.
We made sass-talkin’ buttons for employees to wear and customers to take home.
We even wrote a personal ad for a shishito pepper. Because we’d rather surprise people than make a traditional ad any day.
Needless to say, helping bring the Purveyors Fair to life made us incredibly happy. And we’ve only peeled back the first layer of this locally grown onion. We look forward to developing a full brand story for New Leaf in the near future. And to more barbecue. Please oh please, more barbecue.
And how effective re-positioning got $175 million from Mr Benioff.
Jigsaw.com lets biz-dev types share contact information with one another. And the more a participant shares, the more data they earn access to. It’s like “You show me yours, I’ll show you mine,” except with a whiff of privacy invasion. In the Summer of 2009, TechCrunch’s Michael Arrington branded Jigsaw as “amoral”, “a hyper-effective privacy destroying machine” and called for the government to shut them down. We looked under the hood and pointed out that Jigsaw wasn’t evil...they were just a new form of social media. Moreover, the organization had done a lot to pioneer new concepts of online community, sharing and privacy.
Jigsaw wasn’t giving out people’s home phone numbers. They were helping biz-dev types network. It’s business data. How is that worse than being listed in the Yellow Pages or LinkedIn? From then on, it was easy to position Jigsaw as Curators of the World’s First Free Exchange of Business Information.
Turns out, it's all about who you know.
Biosearch Technologies
Remember Angelina Jolie making headlines when she publicized her BRCA gene test results? Well, our scary-smart new buddies at Biosearch make the kits used to perform those kinds of tests. Some companies make car parts. Biosearch makes custom oligonucleotides. Say whaaaat?
Call ‘em oligos for short. Basically, they’re single strands of DNA that Biosearch custom-creates based on whatever pattern the customer requests (e.g. AGTCTGGAC).
These custom oligos can then be used to discover some pretty amazing stuff. If you wanted to map your personal genome, Biosearch might be the one making your test kit. Or when winemakers need to make sure their vino isn’t spoiled (spoilt?), they turn to Biosearch’s tools. The list of applications goes on and on. DNA testing in murder cases. Screening the air for biological warfare threats. It’s the stuff of the future, we tell you!
Biosearch pioneered this dope technology back in ‘83, and they wanted to celebrate their big 3-0 with swagger. Existing biotech advertising made it easy to know what not to do. We wanted Biosearch to flip biotech advertising on its head, the same way they flipped genomic discovery on its head decades ago. And then, this happened.
DNA + pinot noir = microbe-free deliciousness.
Ok we pitched Angie, but the client wasn't even interested in what it would cost - a case of sticker shock before you even know the price. So, the kaleidoscope works for a lot of reasons, aside from offering new perspective. It implies perfect symmetry and precision (Biosearch’s #1 attribute). It’s beautifully eye-catching and looks nothing like the competition. And the idea of multiplication was a natural fit, given that Biosearch can create thousands of identical oligos in a single day. (We swear it makes sense if you understand nerdy things like oligos and qPCR.)
We still think Angie would have sold more test kits.
Marin Community Foundation
Our audience does not need to be convinced of the need for philanthropy. They approach it as a highly logical, practical task. What they do need is to be convinced of the efficacy and practicality of their giving. The “How ____ happens” device implies two things: first, that MCF has a wide reach, and second that MCF is focused on the impact of each gift. The audience takes away the idea that they can wish for change all day, but MCF is the organization with the capabilities, experience and knowhow to make it happen.
ANTENNA SOFTWARE: LOGO, TAGLINE, WEBSITE
Antenna doesn’t sell apps. They don’t sell “business computing for best-in-class enterprises” or “leverage.” What they do sell is the power to say “Yes.” The power to delight, to amaze, to deliver. The solutions Antenna sells make it easier for people to do their jobs. They make problems go away. They make it easier for more people to do more things, and make more money.
All the work centers on the emotions this idea inspires. It’s not about features, bells-and-whistles, dogs or ponies. It’s not about anything Antenna sells. It’s about their customers - looking at Antenna and saying “Imagine what we could do if we had that.”
Deploy Happiness. Everyone wants happy customers. And happy customers are a direct result of a workforce that’s empowered to deliver. Here we mix a very technical term - “Deploy” with a very emotional one - “Happiness” to explain what we’re really doing when we arm a mobile workforce with Antenna apps.
Jigsaw realized that while they could tout that they were one of the largest business directories on the planet that they always needed to make sure their ( wait ) YOUR data was up to date. Here are some quick concept boards Crockett did to help motivate us all into action. It was fun to think up all of our first jobs here at Crockett. Gosh I'd hate to be marketed to as a guy selling cologne at the men's counter of a department store in Battle Creek, Michigan... Excuse me for a minute, I'm going to check that my jigsaw profile is, err yeah... gotta go.
There are people in your life that you can never repay for all that they have done for you. Dr. Deborah Hecker, is one of them.
Luxor needed a fun way to amp up the excitement for general recruiting events. The clients loved it, the community loved it, kids over 21 who needed work loved it. This campaign ran for years.
Rogers Family Coffee
Rogers Family came to us to help them take their local joe and give them a new brand. One that the whole family could get behind and have fun with. One that would enjoy success as well as tout the smartest farming practices, allow a platform to discuss the support for those rural communities, and the honest no beans about it the freshest cup of joe that you can imagine. Well, we certainly had fun!
Sutter Care at Home
Changing health care regulations call for shorter hospital stays and for more care to be delivered in the patient’s home, which makes Sutter Care at Home, a division of Sutter Health perfectly positioned to provide the health care of the future. Originally founded to help those in need after the famous 1906 earthquake, Sutter Care at Home is the largest integrated home care agency in Northern California, with seven different service lines, including skilled home health, hospice, and home infusion/pharmacy servicing the majority of San Francisco Bay Area and Central Valley counties.
Crockett assisted in bringing together these multiple offerings in multiple locations under one new (easily understandable) name, as well as rounding out the identity system and a few examples of how the brand could look and feel in the future.