Congratulations to the EPIC Creative Rally Teams for Spring 2009! Members have been selected based on skills set and nonprofit client needs. We met last night at bluprint in the Merchandise Mart to meet, greet, and get to know each other. Teams are gearing up to join in the collective goal of developing amazing, engaging work while making meaningful connections and giving back! A big thank you goes out to all for committing time and talent to the community of EPIC and to the inspiring missions of our three nonprofit clients.

BARREL OF MONKEYS


Host Office: 15 ideas

Creative Director: Kevin Lynch

Art Director: Myra Mazzei


Copywriter: Anne Hagerty


Designer: Lucas Buick



Strategist: Maris Grossman




Project Manager: Stephanie Breese





Media Consultant: Megan Meier

Photographer: Greg Hinchman

LITERACY CHICAGO


Host Office: a5 Inc.

Partner: John Harris

Creative Director: Fletcher Martin


Designer: Scott Reinhard


Designer: Tim Lapetino



Writer: Elizabeth Bunten


Writer: Terry Jones


Project Manager: Elizabeth Wheeler




Photographer: Greg Hinchman

ORGANIC SCHOOL PROJECT


Host Office: Grip Design


Creative Director: Kelly Kaminski


Designer: Camay Ho


Writer: Megan Weinerman


Interactive Designer: Mig Reyes


Strategist: Susan Dell’Osso


Project Manager: Ashley Meroney




Photographer: Greg Hinchman

A recent article in Harvard Business encourages aspiring leaders to do two things that are ingrained into what EPIC is doing for creatives: expand and grow your own talent AND mentor someone.

Despite the recession, many consumers would rather pay for media and entertainment content to avoid having to watch ads. And, more people are ok with watching content on computers and mobile devices. Check out the Ad Week article called “Viewers Will Pay to Go Adless”.

So, what does this mean for us as creatives and nonprofits? It means we are in the middle of a BIG transition. We are in the process of redefining what marketing and communications actual mean. Today… tomorrow, marketing, design, advertising is becoming more about engaging your chosen audiences with intriguing services and stories that spread—that are actually worth talking about. Wow, that’s different!

We can have all the social networking platforms in the world but do we actually have something interesting to say? We can even turn our thoughts into Tweets now according to this article in Wired Magazine. We need to offer something worth talking about to our audiences, to our funders, to our friends.

We need a strong concept, a strong message more than a strong medium—although (for all of you McLuhan fans) Mr. Marshall McLuhan would most likely say that social networking is driving the need to reshape the way we market moving forward.

Shared interests need to be transformed into passionate groups of individuals who will actually do something says Seth Godin. We need to engage real people in something that has purpose, that will make their lives better or easier—that will make the world a better place for all of us.

We need something that “sticks” as the Heath Brothers would say. Our ideas need to be have simplicity and be unexpected, concrete, credible, emotional, and tell a GREAT story.

Onward EPIC! The challenge is before us. Our hope is that EPIC creative work will “stick” in all the best ways possible. And, to know we are coming up with ideas that will help organizations that are full of meaning and purpose, that are changing lives, makes it all worthwhile.

There are more than enough reasons why giving back and investing in work you believe in is a beautiful thing. But here is yet another reason: today the Edward M. Kennedy Service America Act was signed into law. On paper, this act is enabling the expansion of civilian service (the largest expansion since the Depression) and it establishes a new social innovation fund that promises to fund new, innovative organizations. But for all of us, it means much more than what it says on paper. This will be yet another stepping stone in encouraging our culture to attack social challenges together. This will continue to enpower all of us, as social entrepreneurs, to move forward with bravery—and with a sense of knowing that our work will not be in vain. Read more about today’s happenings at The Huffington Post.

“RefreshEverything”, Pepsi’s most recent campaign, which ran over 23 days in January and was timed to coincide with President Obama’s Jan. 20 inauguration, produced jaw-dropping results:

+ 6 million people visited RefreshEverything on Facebook.


+ 174,000 people became RefreshEverything Facebook fans.


+ There were 400 video submissions posted on YouTube, surpassing YouTube’s benchmark of 200 videos.


+ RefreshEverything YouTube videos received over four million page views.


+ Over 700 blog postings mentioned the ad campaign.

How did they do it?

1) The campaign started with a branded YouTube channel and a microsite, RefreshEverything.com.

2) The campaign used search and display ads on Yahoo and Google to drive traffic to both the YouTube channel and the microsite.

3) Two additional marketing tools, including e-mail marketing and a .mobi site, helped drive visitors to the sites.

4) An ad invited people to create a YouTube video, “Dear Mr. President,” as an open letter to President Obama.

5) On inauguration day, Pepsi ran take-over ads on Yahoo’s homepage and YouTube, driving an amazing amount of people to RefreshEverything.

This is a great example of using many kinds of new media to engage and inspire a chosen audience to get people talking. But of course, you have to have the idea first!

Check out how the microsite engages, delights, and inspires at RefreshEverything.