We’re everywhere…

We’re everywhere…

North Shore United Soccer Club

Mark Koenig, my upstairs business neighbor and all-around-good-guy, also happened to be one of the leaders of the Cedarburg Soccer Club.  A collection of 200 Cedarburg families whose kids played soccer.  Just like so many other youth sports organizations, it was local and competitive at introducing and developing kids to the sport of soccer.  But Mark was tired of getting their best kids “poached” from other area soccer programs.

He had an idea to make the club more than just Cedarburg.  Why not form something that could attract families and kids from all over the North Shore area?  And the happy by-product, would be more families, better coaches and more money for the organization to construct better facilities to promote soccer even further.

All they needed was an identity that could bring out their very best.  Suffice it to say, we accomplished that task and then some, as the myriad of mini-vans that sport an North Shore United window sticker can attest.

We set out to create an identity that was every bit as strong as any professional sports franchise.  North Shore United branding helps remind us that doing world-class work, even for small clients, can reap very satisfying returns.

You have to start somewhere.

You have to start somewhere.

The Science Museum of Minnesota

Almost 30 years ago to the day, I started my advertising and marketing career with an internship at the Science Museum of Minnesota.  Under the tutelage of Art Director Mark Odegard, I learned how to design, how to think in terms of visitor engagement and how to produce work that a team of people could rally behind.  The first major work that I was involved with was for a show called, Dinosaurs!

Complete with animatronic dinos, fossils, complete skeletons and an array of interactive exhibits, the show became the largest the museum had ever put on.  We even sailed the Apatosaurus down the Mississippi on a barge! Talk about some PR value!  Artwork that I created found it’s way on to t-shirts, shopping bags, outdoor billboards and more.  To this day, it is one of my fondest memories.  No wonder I took to my work and have kept at it for all these years!

Today’s Science Museum of Minnesota has a new brand, built in with the equity of so many patrons, visitors and employees who made it all happen.  The visit is well worth it.