Who’s Your Hero?

Ever think about that? In 2011, Wonder Bread kicked off a contest to find America’s Everyday Heroes.

Willoughby designed the Call for Entry bags asking for nominations of deserving Moms, Dads and Patriots. These hit the shelves in January and it didn’t take long for submissions to start pouring in. We then followed up with bags featuring the winning heroes.

AND THE WINNERS ARE…

Wonder Mom – Jamie Sereika from Ohio graced shelves for Mother’s Day. Her bags benefited The Breast Cancer Research Foundation.
Wonder Dad – Christopher Battle from Michigan was in stores for Father’s Day. His bags benefited USO’s partnership with the United Through Reading® Military Program.
Wonder Patriots – Alexandria Davis from Minnesota and John Powers from California graced patriotic bun packages for the summer. Their bags benefited the USO.

Summer Grillin’!

The best foods of summertime are grilled up outside. In preparation for this beloved time of year, we partnered with our friends at Wonder Bread to design seasonal displays and packaging for their summer buns.

DIFFA

On May 21, Willoughby participated in DIFFA’s 21st Annual Dining By Design Showcase. Our tablescape, “The Shop of Cheer,” took our passion for retail and consumer packaged goods and gave it a black tie interpretation to inspire guests with products of hope including “compassion,” “optimism” and “love.”

Summer at SPIN!

It’s that time of year, another Summer At SPIN! Willoughby created a summer campaign to celebrate long days, warm weather, pizza, vino, bikes and Folk music. The in-store posters, Facebook and Twitter icons and online banners aimed to inspire customers to get out of the house and to their local SPIN!

Branding Bootcamp

CREATING IDENTITIES FOR 16 STARTUPS

The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation launched KauffmanLABS for Enterprise Creation in 2010 as a hands-on experiment to study, quantify and replicate the successful dynamics of high-growth firms. Twenty-three aspiring entrepreneurs were chosen from a pool of more than 1,000 applicants to participate in Kauffman Labs’ Education Ventures Program, a four-month individualized course that teaches founders how to make their business concepts successful. Their ideas represent the utmost innovation for startups in the education industry.

Willoughby supported the efforts of KauffmanLABS and by facilitating a three-day brand immersion bootcamp for these entrepreneurial founders, which took place May 25–27. Willoughby’s role consisted of helping the founders capture and transform their business concepts into coherent visual and verbal brand stories and emotional experiences to attract investors. The culmination of Kauffman Labs’ program occurred on June 7 when the 16 companies pitched their ideas for high-growth educational startups to an audience of experts and venture capitalists from across the country. View the presentations to learn more about the founders and their businesses.

Many thanks to the freelance designers and strategists who joined our coaching teams to make this a success (you know who you are). We couldn't have done it without them.

Cerner

HEALTHCARE IS TOO IMPORTANT TO STAY THE SAME

As Kansas City-based Cerner Corporation becomes more consumer facing in their mission to contribute to the systemic improvement of healthcare delivery and the health of communities, they wanted to make sure their communications matched this mission. Willoughby was proud to partner with Cerner on the creation of their updated brand identity. The company is now moving forward with a new look to match their new mantra, “Healthcare is too important to stay the same.”

Harvesters

The 2011 Harvesters’ Forks & Corks event was a huge success and we are proud we could be involved for the 15th year in a row. Willoughby designed the posters, billboards, programs, ads and other promotional pieces. More than 2,700 people attended raising nearly $211,000. AMAZING!

CONGRATULATIONS, HARVESTERS!

Our longtime client and partner in the community, Harvesters Community Food Network has been awarded the 2011 Food Bank of the Year by Feeding America. This is a national award recognizing the country's most outstanding food bank for the year.

Osmia Organics

Willoughby recently partnered with Sarah Villafranco, MD, to develop a cohesive look and feel for her all natural, organic cosmetic line, Osmia Organics, located in Carbondale, Colo. Sarah took a sabbatical from her career practicing emergency medicine to pursue her passion for creating completely organic lotions & potions. Sarah approached Willoughby to assist with her branding upon discovering our experience with sustainable business practices and cosmetic branding. We are excited to be involved with Osmia Organics and look forward to following Sarah as she experiences success with this new venture. Watch for the launch of this sustainable lux brand in the coming months.

Welcome Interns

We are excited to have two interns, Cat Coquillette and Sydnie Burton, joining us this summer.

Cat is a 2011 graduate from The University of Kansas, double-majoring in graphic design and illustration. She was elected the Outstanding Graduate in graphic design from her graduating class by the KU Department of Design. Cat brings a fresh approach to problem solving paired with an eagerness to experience new possibilities in the design world. To begin a career in brand design, she joined Willoughby in January 2011.

Sydnie is a senior advertising and public relations major from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Upon graduation in May 2012, she would like to apply her knowledge of brand strategy and communications to a career in account management. Sydnie's past internship experience includes Nebraska Athletics, Special Olympics Kansas and Strictly Business Magazine. She joined the Willoughby team in May 2011 as an account management intern.

Reduce, Reuse, Redesign

In April, Ann Willoughby guest spoke at AIGA Charlotte’s Green Design Week 2011. The week long event was inspired by Earth Day.

Following a luncheon where Ann was the guest of honor for a discussion about ecological business practices and design, Ann presented “The Living Principles.” The foundation of this “green” message was based on years of thought and collaboration conceived through AIGA. The goal is to encourage designers to think about and create sustainable design and implement eco-friendly business practices using an array of resources. Ann not only presents on this topic but also lives it through the work done at the Willoughby Design office in Westport, Mo. and at the Barn in Weston, Mo.

Making the Grade

During the last week of April, Ann was honored to receive an invitation to review the graphic design program at Savannah College of Art & Design (SCAD). The scope of this analysis included three campus locations: Atlanta, Ga.; Savannah, Ga. and a videoconference with Hong Kong. Co-reviewing with her was Steff Geissbuhler of C&G Partners LLC.

This evaluation process is conducted every five years for SCAD to maintain accreditation and for the program to identify resources and opportunities for the future.