New brochure design for the Boys & Girls Clubs Foundation of the Olympic Peninsula puts the focus on helping children.

A foundation helping children
The Boys & Girls Clubs Foundation of the Olympic Peninsula is a nonprofit organization which helps fund the good work of our local Boys & Girls Clubs. To this day, thousands of children in our community have benefited from the opportunities and inspiration provided by the Clubs. Foundation board members (and InsideOut partners) Pat & Jim McCauley were happy to donate InsideOut’s services to design a logo and brochure for this worthy cause.

Logo distills the message
The Foundation focused on potential donors who were planning their finances and seeking opportunities for charitable giving. The board wanted donors to know they were joining in a special endeavor to help local children. After some brainstorming, the board’s members decided to create a club of donors: “The Legacy Society”.

InsideOut designer Jennifer Lozada sketched out a number of logos based on the concepts of “legacy, growth and helping local kids”. The final version exemplifies these ideas with images of helping hands and a bright green sprout.

Communicating the benefits of giving
The next project was the brochure. Brochures would be distributed in local financial planning offices and mailed to potential donors. We decided that an 11″ x 17″ piece folded to 8.5″ x 11″ would give us plenty of room for necessary text and many photos.

Financial planning brochures often use dark conservative colors. To help our brochure stand out, we chose a sunny color which also contributed to our growth theme. The logo with its sprout worked well over the background of an old, established oak. Both the sunshine yellow and the oak also communicated the idea of “local” (the nickname for one of the area towns is “Sunny Sequim” and Garry Oaks are a protected species here.)

The Foundation has many wonderful photos from the local Boys & Girls Clubs. The brochure features these photos very prominently. With all the images of local kids, it’s clear that they are the main reason to give. The text supports this idea by providing potential donors with necessary information about the organizations involved, a reply form, and types of contributions accepted. The brochure makes it clear that the nonprofit Foundation and Clubs are long-standing legitimate contributors to the community, worthy of support.

The result
The Boys & Girls Clubs Foundation of the Olympic Peninsula is delighted with the result. Board Member, Billy Nagler’s comments sum up the board’s reaction:

“I am so impressed! The pictures of the kids are precious… the organization of the whole thing is marvelous, the copy is very very informative and well done. What a piece of work, folks… you can be proud of this.”

Click here to view pdf of entire brochure.

Trifold brochure for new Olympic Peninsula marketing strategy

Bridge closure inspires new directions in marketing…
The Hood Canal Bridge is the main eastern access for tourists visiting Washington state’s Olympic Peninsula. This spring, the bridge underwent a much needed retrofit, resulting in a five-week closure. The local tourism organization, Olympic Peninsula Tourism Commission (OPTC), took special measures to promote lodging and other tourism-related businesses while the bridge was closed.Â

Among these efforts was a brochure directed to southern markets in Olympia, WA and Portland, OR. OPTC called upon InsideOut to design the piece and implement the online elements of the promotion. With the success of this piece, OPTC may use it as a template for additional pieces targeting markets to the north and east.

Pictures tell the story
There are six distinctive communities on the Peninsula. No amount of text could represent their unique qualities as well as big glossy photographs. It was decided that photos would be the means to tell their story.

In addition to large photos representing all the communities, OPTC also wanted a large map, an events calendar and lists of web sites and visitor centers in a clean uncluttered layout. Budget and distribution via newspaper insert determined a trifold format of 25.5″ x 10.875″ folded down to 8.5″ x 10.875″. How was it all going to fit?

InsideOut decided to concentrate the text on the back panel, a logical and easily accessible place for reference information. (When you’re in a hurry, it’s easier to just flip a brochure over than to open it up.) The rest of the space was now open for large photos with minimal text.

OPTC also wanted to include an incentive that might change with each version of the brochure. The special offer was placed on the back panel and directs readers to the OPTC website where InsideOut created an easy-to-use form that visitors can use to enter the contest.

Result
160,000 brochures were printed and distributed via inserts into major southern newspapers such as the Oregonian and the Olympian. The response to the special offer has been good and OPTC is very happy with the speed and quality of the design.

Online promotion and print marketing for Olympic Peninsula, WA

Local tourism group takes action during bridge closure

Washington state’s Olympic Peninsula is a major tourist destination in the Pacific Northwest. Many visitors arrive from Seattle and other eastern locations via the Hood Canal bridge. This year, the bridge is undergoing a much needed retrofit to improve safety and reduce traffic congestion. The five- to six-week closure from May to June occurs during the start of the Peninsula’s tourist season.

The Department of Transportation and local news organizations have communicated alternate routes and other important information. However, the Olympic Peninsula Tourism Commission (OPTC) wanted something more to promote local businesses during the closure. OPTC came to InsideOut to implement a program offering incentives for visitors and locals alike.

Step by step

1) Marketing to local business – The first step was promoting the idea to OPTC members. InsideOut created flyers with images and text targeting each major sub-area of the Peninsula. Flyers were were then distributed by each area’s OPTC representative. Participation is easy and FREE. Businesses wanting to offer a coupon or other incentive just contact InsideOut by email or phone.

2) Create web site and brochure – Next, InsideOut created a print brochure which directs potential visitors to an easy-to-use website, www.NoBridgeNoProblem.com. The look was kept simple and straightforward since we were also going for something that had an “official” feel. The site makes it easy to find the businesses’ offers as well as information on useful routes, maps and links to chambers of commerce.

3) Promotion in local/regional media – 10,000 brochures were printed and distributed via local ferries and Certified Folder. Local newspapers also picked up the story, providing free promotion of the web site. Participation by businesses has been very good. At this time, InsideOut has managed the coupon program and over 200 offers are currently available.

The New Forks Chamber of Commerce Website!

Well, it has been a long time in the making and a labor of love, but the Fork Chamber of Commerce website is up and fully loaded! The site features a detailed listing of lodging available on the beautiful West End of the Olympic Peninsula, a special section on points of interest mentioned is Stephenie Meyers’ book Twilight, features an extensive online store full of fun Forks products and Twilight related goods. There is also a very fascinating link to various web cams throughout the Olympic Peninsula. The whole of Forks is getting geared up for this weekend’s Stephenie Meyer’s Day celebration! Saturday, Sept. 13, Bella’s birthday, will be a town-wide celebration of the author that made the sleepy little logging town of Forks a household name! Twilight fans are coming from all over to celebrate the literature they love! There will be a dance and moonlight bonfire with native storytelling…sounds like a killer night!

An Annual Planner Gets an Update

The Olympic Peninsula Tourism Commission (OPTC) promotes tourism throughout the communities of the north Olympic Peninsula, Washington. This year, they chose InsideOut to produce their annual travel planner. To save on time and design costs, OPTC decided to retain most of last year’s design elements (created by a different design firm). The biggest changes for this year included a new cover, a new spread on agri-tourism and an increase in page count‚Äîfrom 36 to 40.

How the Planner Works

This travel planner covers a great deal of information for several communities. Ads purchased by local businesses helped to offset production costs. The 8″ x 9″ pages fold to a convenient 4″ x 9″ size that’s easy to carry when traveling. 4″ x 9″ is also the standard size for display racks used at Visitor Centers. The cover design features photos from each community and colors reflecting the area’s waters and forests. The 80,000 printed planners are being distributed through visitor centers, trade shows and responses to requests received via phone and their online form.

Both Short- & Long-Term

Since this was more of an update than a redesign, we made sure the many text and information changes were done with speed and accuracy. A less obvious but equally important task involved structural changes to the design so that next year’s changes will be even faster and easier.