Even though we’re already a few weeks into (a very rainy) July, it feels like just last week we were red-eyed and yawning during our 5:00 a.m. print-deliverables review at ABC Creative’s 24 Hour Brand Bash.
Just in case you’re unfamiliar with the concept of the Brand Bash – ABC Creative throws a contest each year, inviting the public to submit deserving non-profit and charitable organizations for a full rebrand, including a new website, written social media and content strategies, even new marketing materials and print collateral. This entire process (which can usually take weeks, or even months) is completed in 24 hours. All of this is done as a generous donation of ABC Creative’s time, talents and services, and each of their partner organizations. This year, we were happy to partner with Travis and his team to help out with some of the design and digital needs.
The morning started with a quick team meeting, first round of discussion/brainstorming, and of course, plenty of coffee. Around 8:00 a.m., the client dropped by for the first bit of the discovery process. This year’s deserving nonprofit organization is Oswego Industries – a private, nonprofit that focuses on providing work programs and services to adults with disabilities.
After our initial meeting with the team from Oswego Industries, and collecting some background information and discussion, the team split off into two groups. Part of the crew headed out to Oswego for some on-location videography and interviews, while the other group kicked off some discovery and initial design concepts.
From here, the crew broke up into smaller groups to handle specific tasks. The design team began chipping away on the logo, color palette, brand guidelines and some of the print deliverables, while the web team started their exploration of a site map and breaking up content.
Hours fell off of the clock pretty quickly and we found ourselves wrapping up the first few iterations of deliverables just before dinner. We all took a few minutes to celebrate the progress with a little taco time, courtesy of the Bort family catering service.
With everybody back from the video shoot, and an empty taco buffet, the team got back to it with some post production & video editing work, content production, and continued work on the website.
Travis and Jamie from ABC kept morale up during the evening by organizing a little pajama contest between the crew members. All of ABC’s social media audience were asked to vote on their favorite get-up to choose a winner. Definitely a fun way to keep everybody awake and laughing as we’re creeping closer to midnight. For more photos of the contest, check out ABC Creative’s Facebook page.
We survived the night and found ourselves doing last minute content and print proofs around 4:00 or 5:00 in the morning. At this point, everybody was pretty optimistic that we were going to be ready to go for the client presentation in a few hours. We even had enough time for Travis to get his chef hat on and cook breakfast for the crew!
We spent the next few hours going over the copy on the newly designed website, organizing the presentation and cleaning up the office in preparation of the client arrival. When everybody showed back up at 8:00 a.m., they were greeted with some over-caffeinated creatives, and a whole new set of print and digital materials to carry their organization to the next level.
Check out the amazing long-form video that ABC produced for Oswego Industries!
Overall, we had a blast being welcomed on as part of the Brand Bash crew for a full day. We can’t say enough nice things about Travis and his team, Heather Rodriguez Photography, and the amazing services provided by each of the partners for the Brand Bash. It was an amazing opportunity to help provide some great service for Oswego Industries, and we loved learning about their business throughout the whole process. They provide a fantastic service to the Central New York area. Everybody at The Lab was thrilled to be a part of this year’s Brand Bash, even though it took us a few days to get back on a regular’ish sleep schedule.
For more information on ABC Creative’s 24 Hour Brand Bash, and a detailed recap of the process, check out the Brand Bash website. Stay tuned for next year!
