Victoria’s Secret

Problem: Many potential customers are uncomfortable with walking into a Victoria’s Secret store, or have little interest in the brand because they are intimidated by its high-class, supermodel-obsessed image.

Strategy: Show the “other” side of the brand, with materials and a message that are not intimidating. The image should be a more natural, yet still beautiful version of Victoria’s Secret.

Concepts: Many people buy Victoria’s Secret products because they are, quite simply, comfortable. These people do not have the bodies of supermodels, and may be somewhat unattracted to the brand’s image. Still, they choose this brand because of its superior quality, softness, and variety of color and style.

The secret is the comfort.

Grand Rapids Community Media Center

Background: The Grand Rapids Community Media Center, (GRCMC), is the umbrella organization for seven media-related organizations in Grand Rapids, Michigan. These organizations provide valuable resources for community members to express their opinions and share their messages effectively within the community.

Problem: Not enough people take advantage of the center’s resources. Also, it is not widely understood that the smaller organizations are part of GRCMC.

Strategy: Create a new logo and tagline for the center, to give it a more recognizable and modern feel. Create new material for media such as radio, television, billboard, online, guerrilla or other formats.

Express the dual nature of the organization by combining its “grassroots” ideals with a clear, action-oriented tagline:

Media Ignition
Unbiased Media
Media Multiplicity
Media Migration
Unfiltered Media
Media of the Minds
Multipart Media
Say Something
Be an Inciter
Ideas Unabridged
Media Unabridged
Media Detoxified
Make Waves

The idea of creating billboards with a message telling observers that working with GRCMC is like having your own billboard to say what you need to say, was explored.

Resolution: After several meetings with the client, options were narrowed to the tagline, “Freedom of Think,” and a one-color logo was chosen. The new logo and tagline will be launched in January, 2007.

Grand Raggidy Roller Girls

Background: The Grand Raggidy Roller Girls (GRRG) is a women’s roller-derby team hailing from Grand Rapids, Michigan. They had never sought professional branding assistance before meeting the team at The Polishing Center.

Problem: The team needed more members, and more people in the audience.

Strategy: Create materials that will be attention-grabbing and informative. These would include:
-new logo and tagline
-”table tents” at bars, a frequent hot spot for the GRRG and potential members
-Guerrilla methods that take advantage of whatever environmental conditions are present at that time. Examples would include putting “Grand Raggidy Roller Girls Were Here” signs on sites of destruction, such as broken buildings, wrecked cars, construction sites, breaks or cracks in the sidewalk, or other such sites.

The over-arching theme was to effectively combine “feminine” and “tough” characteristics, which highlight the interesting duality of the team.

Taglines
Below the Belt
Loose Lips, Tight Wheels
High Heels, Hot Wheels
We’re On Your Back
On the Rink & Under Your Skin
Hell on Wheels
Hot Sauce on Wheels
War on Wheels
Pretty. Tough.
Bare Teeth
Hot Flashes
Mood Swings
Calling All the Shots
Save It For the Jam
We’ll Laugh, You’ll Cry.
Breaking Hearts & Bones.

Magazine

This Day/Night concept illustrates that these women are unsuspecting members of the community by day, and tough Rollergirls by night.

Proper girls handle problems with a grain of salt.
Rollergirls handle problems with assault.

Healing bones by day.
Breaking bones by night.

Saving lives by day.
Risking lives by night.

Nurse by day. Curse by night.
Teacher by day. Bully by night.
Best friend by day. Worst enemy by night.
Barista by day. Beast by night.
Mom by day. Bombshell by night.
Waitress by day. Temptress by night.

Newspaper: Page 1
Flip the page, and in the same place on page 2, you will see:

Newspaper: Page 2
On the bottom of the ads would be a call-to-action, and contact information.

I cut a nationally-used logo from a magazine, crinkled it, and scanned it to create a more rugged effect.

MSU Student Housing Cooperative

Background: The Michigan State University Student Housing Cooperative, (SHC) is an organization that allows students to own shares in and be part-owners of their homes. Because it is a student-owned operation, there is no “middleman,” no landlord, and costs remain low. There are more than 12 homes near campus available to students, varying in size and personality.

Problem: The organization struggles to fill spots in houses during the summer and school semesters, mainly because many students are not aware that the SHC exists. Even those who are familiar with it do not fully understand the advantages of being part of the SHC. The solutions should be effective on a very small or no budget.

Strategy: Target students currently not living in the SHC, especially those who may be dealing with high rent costs, or paying a lazy landlord who never fixes that leaky faucet. The goal is to create awareness in the SHC. Some tactics include creating postcards to hand out or leave at local establishments, as well as posters and/or radio spots. Guerrilla advertising would also be used to attract students’ attention.

“Common Sense” Lines
If going to college means you’re smart, then why are you paying so much for rent?
Parking is free when you live close enough to walk to class.
You don’t need a designated driver when you live close enough to walk home.
Why should you have to pay rent after you move out?

This is one example of a guerrilla message for students. It was inspired by the high cost of parking tickets near campus.

Another guerrilla tactic would be to send a letter that appears to be from the local Police Department, notifying the student that he was cited a ticket for drunk driving. The piece would go on to explain the many diverse advantages of living in the SHC, (emphasizing the benefit of being within walking distance of the downtown area), and a call to action.

Resolution: I created many mailings and posters for SHC, out-of-pocket, and distributed them to students and on billboards around campus. The pieces were copies of hand-drawn posters and mailings. I was interested to find that, after most posters were cleared from the halls of the buildings I had posted in, the hand-drawn SHC posters remained. The cleaners were hesitant to remove something that had such a personal touch.