Vanquishing Super Heroes One Illustration at a Time

In an ongoing battle of one-upmanship, each post on The Superest website features a one-panel illustration of a super hero.

The hook? Two illustrators take turns, and the power of each new super hero must cancel the power of the previous character. The Superest is based on an offline game created by Andy Havens called, “My Team, Your Team.”

Wholly Exclusivity Batman!

In spite of a growing fan base, The Superest is for the most part just animator/designer Matthew Sutter and illustrator/designer Kevin Cornell. It represents a highly creative use of online social conventions, allowing many to share and comment on an experience typically enjoyed by individuals in solitude.

With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility

Unlike Coudal Partner’s popular Layer Tennis, Sutter and Cornell seem content to war on for the pure fun and camaraderie of the experience.

“We built The Superest because we just wanted a place to play this game against each other. People seem to enjoy watching, and we’re thankful for that; but turning this site into a user-content focused site pretty much sucks the joy out of it for us, because we go from being two artists having fun, to being site administrators and moderators.”

-Kevin Cornell

Luckily, The Superest creators set out to have some fun and we’re all invited.

Stay Tuned

Tomorrow Kevin Cornell answers 9-1/2 questions about The Superest site and his life as a creative illustrator.

“If this isn’t a true definition of community,
I don’t know what is.”

-Bobbie Davis, Family Friend

The Scenario

Nineteen year old Michael Treinen is in the fight of his life. Suffering a relapse of Acute Myeloid Leukemia, he needs a $500,000 bone marrow transplant, but his $1M lifetime insurance limit has been exhausted.

With only a few days to raise money to cover the costs, the Treinan family turned to email, asking friends and family to donate $20 within three days and forward the email to 20 friends. By day 2, several people at Brainstorm had received the plea from the nearby community; some from up to 4 different sources.

More than Enough

The message quickly spread beyond the immediate community and donations came in from across the country. By day 3 the family had raised $175,000. By 3pm day 4, $355,000. By 7pm that day, over $400,000. And by day 5, the deadline, they had raised over $700,000. Today, a week later, the count is $856,000.

The media’s coverage of the grassroots campaign resulted in a state insurance program approving an expedited high-risk insurance policy that would cover 60 percent of the transplant cost.

More than Money

Social networking delivered something else, too. At last count Michael Treinen’s Caring Bridge blog showed 169,670 visits and 3,677 people had left messages via the guestbook. What better encouragement to lift Michael’s spirits?

More than Email

Success in social networking is inspired, launched and sustained by the trusted connections between people. The Treinen’s email pleas were sent from friend to friend; had they been sent from strangers or generated by faceless scripts, the Michael Treinen story wouldn’t have happened.

Whether you make widgets or offer something more philanthropic, social networking demands transparency and an ongoing investment in others. Then, when the time calls for it, your friends—and even people you don’t know—may respond when called upon.

Anticipate More

Under the circumstances, the Treinens couldn’t have dreamed of, much less considered what to do should they exceed their expectations. It’s being placed in a trust fund to cover Michael’s future medical needs and they’ve said any overage will be donated to charity.

The lesson being, be prepared and model outcomes to scale in proportion to the potential explosive power of online social campaigns.

[ Image: Kazze ]

The new ferocious face of the Hamilton Southeastern High School Royals

“Our identity was fragmented; it lacked the presence a class 5A high school athletics program ought to project.”

-Greg Habegger, Hamilton Southeastern Athletic Director

Big Stakes

Brainstorm has branded many sports teams, venues, and organizations over the years: The Indianapolis 500, the U.S. Grand Prix Formula 1 race, the Brickyard 400 and 3M Performance 400 NASCAR races, the Disney 200, Conseco Fieldhouse, the NCAA Hardwood Cafe, RCA Dome, soccer associations…and now, the local high school?

Professional and college sports programs have become increasingly aware and protective of brand equity and the revenue it generates. High school sport programs that “borrow” identity elements in part or in whole from collegiate or professional teams often meet with threats of litigation.

Big Vision

With that in mind, and a desire to create an identity that transcended standard high school fare, Hamilton Southeastern High School’s athletic director, Greg Habegger, tapped Brainstorm to create the new Royals identity system.

Redesigned all-sports program cover and football helmet—click to see larger view.

The Brand Audit

Brainstorm reviewed Hamilton Southeastern High School’s (HSE) brand identity and found a pencil rendering—loosely based on a piece of clip art—being used in a myriad of graphic styles in more than 15 interpretations to depict the Royal’s lion mascot, “Roarie.”

The artwork was too soft and detailed to reproduce properly at smaller sizes and across various mediums. But even more importantly, Roarie was not fearsome-looking but rather passive and friendly.

“Brainstorm’s branding elevated our Royals identity to a professional or collegiate level.”

-Jim Self, Hamilton Southeastern Athletic Director

What’s in a Name?

Hamilton Southeastern High School Royals is a mouthful to say. Taking a cue from fans who generally refer to the school teams as the Royals, Southeastern, or HSE, we opted to drop the county name, Hamilton, in conjunction with the school’s athletic team identities.

Branding 101

Unlike professional team identities which are designed for a single sport, out of necessity, we approached the project more like a collegiate mark needing to encompass many sports. The identity needed to be flexible enough to allow for individual sport identification while retaining a strong core brand identity. We designed a system that worked as a family based on the core mark above.

Broad-based Deliverables

Brainstorm created a media cd and usage guidelines to assist the athletic directors in managing the brand rollout. We also re-graphicized the gymnasium floor, created back-lit dimensional entryway signs to the Royals sports complex, and designed a variety of logowear apparel.

In addition, we created over 35 logomark variations to give individual sports a unique identity within the Royals brand.

To see more brand deliverables click to play.

Between booster clubs, coach’s and team apparel, sports venues, signage and the like, a large high school has nearly as many branding needs as a collegiate program. (Trust us on that.) The rebranding effort began in December, 2005 and is expected to be completed by the end of this year.

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An orbital 1,967,514 views,
and counting

Good. Clean. Fun.

For a good clean feeling, no matter what, we offer up this serial Wrigley’s Orbit® gum spot. Smacking wads of Orbit, this threesome pushes nearly every FCC boundary, yet never broaches one.

Add the signature Orbit brand sign-off: hand-held, frame-centered package; Vanessa, the onlooking, ever-white-bright and über-perky narrator with package-matching scarf; a tagline reinforcement finish; and this one’s a wrap.

Viral. Free. Fun.

At last count Orbit has enjoyed 1,967,514 brand impression-delivered views of this video on YouTube alone—part of what’s propelled Orbit to a top five chewing gum brand. Now that’s meteoric viral distribution. And for brand agents, that’s just good clean fun—key word, fun.

White Castle’s conversation-inspiring promotion.

Dining on Slyders®
by candlelight

What’s Wrong with this Picture?

This street sign isn’t advertising a 4-star restaurant, it’s a 24-hour White Castle that serves miniature hamburgers called Slyders®. A regional player, they consistently rank among the Top 100 U.S. foodservice companies, serving over 500 million burgers a year.

White Castle is running a serious business, but not too serious.

Love is in the Ambiance

A kitsch castle motif and hamburger joint ambiance doesn’t register as a romantic destination for most couples. Nor does dining on steamy Slyders® in a stainless-steel and plastic-laminate setting on candlelit, linen-draped tables. Which is exactly why White Castle’s charming Valentine’s Day promotion works.

Not your typical White Castle experience: waiters, flowers, candlelight and tablecloths.

Embrace Yourself

From a strategic marketing standpoint, White Castle understands and embraces their market space and brand persona—and are willing to leverage it by poking fun at themselves. This promotion transcends a one-way communication, inviting consumers to interact with the brand—sharing a little levity with others at White Castle’s expense.

Instigating Viral-ability

The promotion’s self-effacing humor became an opportunity for consumer-generated online viral buzz. The Brainstorm employee who took the picture emailed it to 3 people; two within Brainstorm and one in Oregon. Several weeks later she received the image back in an email from a former co-worker, unrelated in any tangible way to the original recipients with the subject ‘Valentine’s Day dinner plans?’ Who knows how far it traveled or how many people saw it?

Share the Love

Socially shared experiences both on and offline begin with transparency, relevance, and often wit. Inspiring people to talk positively about your brand requires involvement and reaching out to engage.

[Restaurant interior photo: Girlieleep]