Challenge

Creating a humanizing, scalable event presence for Newsela and a brand experience that was eye-catching, delightful, and low-cost for a 20 x 20 booth space at a major educators trade show. The booth needed to be unique, and appeal to educators who were feeling overwhelmed.

Concept

This concept’s goal was to be eye-catching in crowded spaces - it was meant to stand out and provide an approachable and delightful brand experience. The Rainbow served several functions - to be eye catching in a sea of single color logos, to indicate the diversity of our product suite, and to provide a memorable and easy descriptor to drive word of mouth. There was a little pinch of magical style illustration meant to be a nod to nostalgia and make the experience itself feel like you’d left the crowded conference hall.

Newsela IRL was also meant to highlight the employees that showed up to these events. They are Newsela in real life.

Solution

Event - The first round of IRL events centered on a wrapped airstream and the idea of a fun summer trip. By pulling the airstream into the trade conference - we immediately had a standout booth experience (and avoided the cost of booth fabrication). The space was versatile, fun, and generated a lot of leads.

IRL events had special t-shirts, featured profiles of the employees that were in attendance, and had relaxed themed games and learning stations to allow for more authentic conversation.

Role: Creative Director

Tools: Adobe illustrator, Creative Strategy

Worked with: Junior and Mid-Level designers to implement, Senior Director of Brand, Event production agency, vehicle build and wrap team.

Great Buzz

Newsela's experience generated a lot of social media attention and appreciation. The lawn games successfully pulled folks into the booth for a chat, and the team's brightly colored and informal apparel made them seem approachable.

The experience was a hit! After the conference, the airstream went on tour (it was designed to attract attention on the road as well)

Collateral examples (Implemented/Created by my team)

To the right you’ll find a small sampling of the some of the campaign assets that were created the design team to support Newsela IRL. Shown are an invitation poster, some ads and a last-minute addition of a s’mores kit to go with our “fire” pit.