Expression
Triple Word Score and the Three-Strand Process
It’s finally here. The week you’ve been waiting for all year: National Scrabble Week! Did you know that Scrabble was originally called Lexiko? This challenging crossword game was invented by an out-of-work architect in the midst of the great depression. When the manufacturing rights were purchased from the inventor in 1948, the name was changed to “Scrabble,” which literally means, “to scratch frantically.” Now you can amaze your friends with this important trivia at the next party you attend. This historic game requiring proficient strategy and anagramming skills is not unlike the process that happens here at CHANGEffect. more »
Hey, What Do You Know? We Won An Award!
We don’t take a lot of time around here to enter design competitions. But we sure are appreciative when our clients get jazzed about about something we’ve designed for them and enter into their own industry competitions. We collaborated with Christian Heritage Academy to help them tell their story in a new recruitment brochure. They submitted it and won an Award for Excellence from the National School Public Relations Association. Congratulations CHA! ... a school with an incredible community culture by the way. more »
Viral Storytelling Without Over-Striding
If I need a little pick-me-up I just watch the “Where the Hell is Matt” video (http://www.vimeo.com/1211060). Stride gum has done a great job of providing an inspirational experience without gratuitously plastering their logo over everything. Instead they tap into an audience’s desire to become connected and part of a story…and they’re happy with a just a post roll credit. Makes me want to book tickets to…anywhere. By the way, it would probably take me two weeks to learn to dance Matt’s simple little jig. more »
Change is in the Air
Change has been a big buzzword this year, especially among the politicians in the presidential campaign. One of the team members at C2 (one of our web development partners), sent us this You Tube video. We think it’s hilarious, considering that many of our clients refer to us simply as “CHANGE.” Enjoy. more »
The Fray Unplugged and Mustaches
The crazy popular band The Fray capped off the second night of the Q Conference in midtown Manhattan (actually two of the four band members did the gig). They played an unplugged set that was a great way to chill out after almost 20 speaker talks on Wednesday and Thursday. They played familiar hits like “Over My Head” and “How To Save A Life” and cracked open several new songs off their upcoming album as well as a new mustache sported by the lead singer. It was the first time that the he had performed with the blond beauty and he complained about how it got jammed up in his microphone when he was singing. more »
Disappointed in Branding for Nonprofits
I had a conversation with a potential client recently who referred to a book called Branding for Nonprofits by DK Holland. Because I’m kind of a brandaholic and because there is precious little written about branding in the nonprofit space, I thought I would pick it up hoping for some new fodder. I was disappointed. more »
Billboards That Hurt My Eyes
Each morning and evening, Monday through Friday, I travel along the Stevenson Expressway (that’s I-55 for you out-of-towners). Each commute I’m reminded that advertising and marketing are supposed to be related. Unfortunately, they rarely are. more »
Inspiring 100,000+ leaders. How do you do that?
How many true leaders do you know? Go ahead, count’em! I’m about to meet hundreds ...
I’m on a plane to Orlando this evening, headed to the National Strategy Event (NSE) for the Leadership Summit. The Summit attracts more than 60,000 leaders each year nationally and thousands more globally. The event is simulcast to more than 100 satellite locations during the month of August each year. The NSE is designed to bring hundreds of key influencers from across the nation to one location where they can be equipped and energized to help as many people experience the Summit as possible. We work with the Summit team to create many of the communication materials for the event. more »
Visit to Brooklyn Tabernacle
Just spent a day in New York visiting the Brooklyn Tabernacle. We’re designing the DVD packaging for a video they produced about the transformation of the Angola State Penitentiary in Louisiana. Once the bloodiest prison in the nation, it is now a showcase among U.S Penitentiaries. The video profiles a few inmate stories and the spiritual revival that took place culminating in a Power of Freedom worship service featuring Pastor Cymbala and the Brooklyn Tabernacle Singers.
Man, I forgot how big New York is. Chicago is big but New York is gigantic. Anyway, enjoyed some unseasonable 60 degree weather there today before going through a series of delays, change of carriers, and return to the wrong airport in our cold Chicago. more »
An Award-Winning Site
The Care of Trees is a great company that we’ve been able to work with for a few years now. Last year we designed their website and it won an award for web design at the 2007 TCIA Professional Communications Awards. Check out the site when you have a moment: www.thecareoftrees.com.
more »Did we get it right?
Taking yourself on as a client is one of the hardest challenges. Launching this website and our new brand was at times painful requiring a lot of extra time, sweat, frustration and elation by a lot of really good people. Our biggest reason for making the branding change is to let world know we are much more than a design firm. The strategic storytelling and culture consulting work has been a major part of our business for quite awhile now. more »
Imagine That
The rate of economic change is forcing--and enabling--people to innovate faster than ever. And as more people are paid to think, more organizations are giving employees license to muck around with ideas. Smart companies are realizing that they have to give up a lot of control so that they can unleash and sustain serious innovation. But unbridled creativity isn’t a complete business solution. Control, structure, and results still matter--even though you are only as good as your last idea. more »
CHANGEffect Story
We talk a lot about crafting stories for organizations. Are you wondering about our story? Would you like to see it? Careful. It’s been known to change the way people think about CHANGEffect. more »
