So… we did a thing.”

A thing that no one at The Brand Stand had ever done before. A thing that turned out to be more amazing than we could have ever dreamed, and we are so grateful for each and every person that was a part of it. That thing was the Inaugural Lemon+Aid 24-hour (Virtual) Create-A-Thon.

From Saturday, May 9th through Sunday, May 10th, The Brand Stand hosted a 24-hour virtual event where 18 creative participants volunteered their time and skills to tackle design challenges presented by 5 different small businesses from around the world that have been affected by COVID-19. The Create-A-Thon was the inaugural event held under Lemon+Aid, The Brand Stand’s recently launched division dedicated to charitable initiatives. As the first of its kind, there was a great deal of thoughtful research and planning that went into making this event possible. But ultimately, it was the people who made this event successful.

Back up, what is a Create-A-Thon?

Normally, a “Thon” of any kind is an event where teams of skilled individuals get together in one room for 24 hours straight, and volunteer their time and skills to solve real world problems. Unlike its popular sibling, the Hackathon, a Create-A-Thon requires creatives (as opposed to coders) with skills ranging from web development and graphic design to marketing and branding.

Whoa. How did you put that together?

Lots of careful consideration and social media marketing went into planning and promoting the Lemon+Aid Create-A-Thon. Raise your hand if you saw some variation of this in the month of April.

It was very important to us to market the event to both participants and potential clients so that we would have enough projects for several teams of qualified participants to work on. Fortunately, after a few social media posts to multiple platforms, and some targeted outreach to a number of incubators and organizations, our mission was accomplished. In the weeks leading up to the event, the Lemon+Aid Committee received applications for 16 projects and 41 creative participants. Of those 16 project applications, we narrowed it down to 5 final client projects; and of the 41 participants, we selected 23 for the big day – with only 4 last minute cancellations (if you’re reading this, we missed you!). In addition to our creative participants and clients, we were also joined by two talented guest speakers: art director and designer Danielle Evans, and creative problem solver / dragon slayer Kasey Randall. Finally, a shout out to our amazing volunteers, Daniel Noll (aka DJ Diplomat) and Mario Smith-Mena.

The behind-the-scenes logistics of this event presented its own suite of unique challenges. Given the current nature of the pandemic, the Create-A-Thon was held virtually via Zoom video conference, with creatives leveraging a number of other digital, collaborative tools to get the projects done, like Slack, Figma, and Google Drive. Ultimately, we chose Zoom for its breakout room feature, allowing us as hosts to create 5 different “rooms” spawned from the main zoom link. This truly simplified the video conferencing aspect of the event, and honestly simulated an in-person event quite well.

Okay, got it. Tell me about the projects!

Alright, alright. Without any further ado, allow us to introduce our clients, their projects, and creative teams:

Run Veggie / Meal Fam

The Challenge

Run Veggie, a vegan food company owned and operated by founder Jermaine Kelly, was seeking help in the launch of his new business venture, Meal Fam. Before COVID-19, most of Run Veggie’s revenue was derived from selling their vegan food products at events in Washington, DC. In an effort to pivot the business, Run Veggie launched Meal Fam, a hot meal delivery service featuring a full range of food products, including meat, and compostable packaging. The homestyle meals will be available for pre-order (48hrs advance) and delivery to families in specific zip codes within Washington, DC.

The Scope

1. Meal Fam Logo
2. Meal Fam Marketing Strategy
3. Meal Fam Packaging

The Team

1. Jermaine Kelly – Owner & Founder of Run Veggie & Meal Fam
2. Allie Miller – Design; Branding; Project Management
3. Kevin Chiang – Design; Branding; Photography
4. Deanna Luu – Design and Branding

The Final Deliverables

Logo

Icon only

Packaging

Marketing Mockups

Marketing email mockup

One Lamp

The Challenge

Part of OneLamp’s mission is to provide clean, affordable energy solutions to the deprived and underserved communities in Sub Saharan Africa, with a special emphasis on serving the children in this part of the world. According to Uganda’s Ministry of Education, there are now more than 8 million children of the country’s student population whose schools have closed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Since 80% of the population lacks access to the national grid at home, most of these children who would normally learn about their community at school, are without access to information about how to stay safe and healthy during these trying times.

The Scope

1. Short, animated video to be shared on social media platforms and website
2. Animated GIFs

The Team

1. Derrick Hosea Opio – CEO of OneLamp
2. Deveney Williams – Design; Branding; Photography
3. Ahmed Rashad – Design
4. Leah Snider – Design; Branding; Illustration; Photography
5. Natalia Arias – Design, Branding, Illustration, and Photography

The Final Deliverables

Para Hita

The Challenge

Para Hita is a veteran-owned company that makes delicious and convenient Guam-inspired food for retail and food service operations! The founder’s vision is for the company to embody its theme, “Keep It Island” as a lifestyle, and be more than just a food brand. Para Hita’s products are currently available at retail stores in Washington, DC, but the ultimate goal is to grow the brand to a national level.

This project would be a “game changer” for Founder, Manny Grey. For the past couple of years, he has devoted most of his time and energy to creating delicious Guam-inspired foods. Since COVID hit, the experience has highlighted just how important it is to have a robust marketing strategy in place to build brand awareness, and an e-commerce site to support the traffic. With the new product launch of his yam doughnuts coming up in June 2020, Manny needs your help to ensure that the launch, and business thereafter, is a success.

The Scope

1. Logo
2. Labels
3. Marketing Strategy
4. E-Commerce Web Design

The Team

1. Manny Grey – Owner of Para Hita
2. Suwratul Abdullah – Design
3. Laurie Grant – Design; Project Management
4. Matthew Fischer – Strategy & Business Development
5. Adrienne Yang – Design and Web Development
6. Sally McBratney – Design, Branding, and Illustration

The Final Deliverables

Logo

Option #1: Block Logo Style

Option #2: Script Logo Style

Website & Label Mockup

@sally_mcbee

TheraV

The Challenge

TheraV is incredibly passionate about ending the suffering that continues to plague amputees and sufferers of nerve pain by offering innovative, affordable, wearable technology. Prior to COVID-19, TheraV was on track to receive a small business grant that would have gone towards redesigning their website and logo in preparation for an important product launch in August. This redesign will be critical to the success of this product launch!

The Scope

1. Logo that conveys company’s mission and values with same / similar color scheme
2. Website recommendations that will enhance the user experience for their target audience

The Team

1. Amira Idris – Founder & Owner of TheraV
2. Matthew Stephens – Design; Branding; Illustration
3. Matthew Flynn – Design; Branding; Illustration
4. Will Tullos – Design; Branding; Illustration

The Final Deliverables

Logo – 3 options

Website Mockup

Thimble.io

The Challenge

Thimble teaches K-12 students computer science, IT, and engineering skills through a hands-on curriculum delivered to K-12 schools. Their mission is to make college-level STEM education accessible to all students so that they become productive forces in the digital economy.

With COVID school closures, Thimble had to change their business model fast, so they decided to shift to a consumer market focus. Now, they sell online STEM workshops for parents new to homeschooling their kids who need engaging hands-on activities to keep them busy. Workshops are build-along sessions that allow kids to build their robotics/coding projects from start to finish with a live instructor on Zoom. For this project, Oscar was looking for help creating some marketing campaigns for general brand awareness, but also to introduce their instructor-led workshops. The goals are to boost their presence on social media and grow their email list by creating engaging content.

The Scope

1. Marketing strategy to boost general brand awareness and introduce new instructor-led workshops
2. Content for social media marketing campaigns (i.e. video, images, testimonials, etc.

The Team

1. Oscar Pedroso – Co-founder / CEO of Thimble
2. Kelsey Hayenga – Marketing; Other
3. Kate Evetts – Branding; Marketing
4. Ida Shiang – Design; Writing; Illustration

The Final Deliverables

Marketing Strategy Highlights

Social Media Mockups

Lead Generation Highlights

Real talk…would you do it again?

We would 100% do it all over again. As we mentioned from the beginning, each and every one of our clients and creative participants are what made this event so successful. What made it all worthwhile was seeing the pride on each creative’s face when they presented, and hearing the genuine gratitude from each one of our clients afterward. We came. We saw. We squeezed!

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