Missing Peace

Dalai Lama Foundation

In support of the Dalai Lama Foundation’s “Missing Peace” International Art Exhibit, the Collaborative developed a set of youth engagement activities that were introduced in cities across the world.

“A job well done. Thank you so much for the work you’ve done to help us design and deliver this beautiful youth educational piece of the exhibit.”
— Jim Schuyler, Chief Technical Officer, Dalai Lama Foundation

USA Free for All Campaign

George Washington Institute for Religious Freedom

In support of the George Washington Institute for Religions Freedom, the Collaborative created and is supporting the rollout of “USA Free for All,” a nationwide “Teen-Focused Campaign for an Inclusive America.” Tactics include paid advertising, earned media through celebrity endorsements and events, and dissemination of digital and print materials through national partners.

The project is currently convening nonprofit co-sponsors to help implement the campaign, including YMCAs; Boys and Girls Clubs; community centers; public, private, and religious schools; synagogues; mosques and churches.

iExplore More Visitor Center Redesign

Ames Research Center

The Collaborative redesigned the 6,000 square feet NASA Visitor Center located at the entrance to the NASA Ames Research Center. The iExplore More design theme celebrated our sense of wonder and basic human questions that ultimately lead to the answers and knowledge that enriches our lives. Provocative and fun exhibits brought to life questions like those raised by Victor Hugo over a hundred years ago: “Where the telescope ends the microscope begins. Which of the two has the grander view?” Designed with children and adults in mind, more than a dozen interactive exhibits raised questions about the scope and scale of our universe, while showcasing NASA’s contribution to space exploration and scientific discovery. For example, a white cue ball painted with a large question mark sits on the center of a billiard table surrounded by balls painted with spiral galaxies. In another exhibit geared for children, a table of microscopes displays planets and giant nebulae. A caption explains that “the universe is so big that even the largest objects in space are tiny.”

youMove Massachusetts Communications Campaign

Massachusetts Department of Transportation

The Collaborative designed and implemented a communications campaign in support of a major Massachusetts statewide transportation planning initiative. This included the creation of the project brand identity “youMove Massachusetts,” designed collateral print and digital products, developing and hosting a well-received website, and organizing public meetings around the state. The website incorporated an interactive survey and mapping tool that enabled users to post location-specific public comments.

Public Affairs and Communications Services

City of Sandy Springs, Georgia

Between 2011-19, the Collaborative managed the Public Affairs and Communications Department for the City of Sandy Springs, GA, a city of approximately 110,000 in the Atlanta area.

Staff developed a branding and marketing strategy for the City. This included identifying target audiences, developing a positioning statement, and creating the tagline: “One Big Idea, One Better City.” The firm redesigned the City’s website, created collateral print products, and developed and implemented tactics for using the internet and social media for effectively communicating with residents, businesses, and the media. Staff regularly wrote press releases and organized media events. Special initiatives included developing a communications campaign supporting the launch of the city’s new $300M city center “City Springs” that included a new 1,000-person performing art center, city hall, housing, retail and new central park. Activities included designing bus raps, paid ads, street banners, internal signage, and digital social media. Evidence of the campaign’s success includes tickets purchased for 90% booked performances (until Covid), and attendance averaging in the thousands for outdoor concerts and events.

“The Collaborative provides thoughtful, creative thinking as it assists the city in developing communications programs for our city center and the entire community.”
— Eva Galambos, Former Mayor of Sandy Springs

Protecting the Oceans Communications Campaign

Massachusetts Bays Program

The Collaborative designed and led a multi-year public outreach and information campaigns in support of the Massachusetts Bays Program. With the goal of raising awareness and building partnerships to improve the quality of coastal New England waters, the campaigns included the design and distribution of a wide range of informational materials, organization of public and roundtable meetings, production of television and radio public service announcements, design of a wallet-sized clean water shopping guide distributed with over 150,000 water bills, hotline operation, beach and waterway clean ups, letter-writing campaign, broad press coverage of “Walk for Clean Water” event, design of a “Clean Water Game” video and collateral brochure, and a coalition-building campaign that resulted in a $5M grant from U.S. EPA for water pollution control.

“We’ve come to expect your flashes of inspiration, exciting new ideas and approaches, and well-written documents.”
— Jay Kaufman, State Representative, Former Chair, Massachusetts Bays Program CAC

PACE Website

Pacific Autism Center for Education

Challenge: Founded in 1989, The Pacific Autism Center for Education (PACE) has a mission to enhance the lives of people impacted by autism, through innovation, exceptional education and compassionate care. Services are provided through three primary programs: Behavioral, Educational, and Residential. They came to the Collaborative seeking to replace their existing website with one that was much more vibrant and interesting. Especially important was the featuring of the wonderful staff and clients that are part of this incredible organization.

Solution: We developed a website (and accompanying logos and graphics that can be used in other applications) that were bold, modern, and enjoyable. By developing a consistent look-and-feel throughout the website, all of the programs are accurately reflected as being under that same parent organization. With minimal effort, a visitor to the site can appreciate all that PACE has to offer.

Results: PACE is receiving the recognition it deserves after being born from years of futile attempts to work within the traditional system to meet the specialized needs of persons with autism. Starting with 14 students in 1989 and one group home in 1992, PACE currently serves over 60 students in our preschool and K-12 school, houses 36 children and adults in our residential program, and provides behavioral services for Bay Area families.

Porchlight Website

Porchlight Autism Education Series

Challenge: The Porchlight Autism Education Series is a resource designed for parents and caregivers of people living with autism. The series focuses on education and solutions to help with behavioral change at home. Porchlight is meant to be an easily accessible resource for you when you need it, and at your own pace. The Collaborative came aboard to help them organize their material and present the educational solutions in a clear and concise manner to both English and Spanish-speaking clients.

Solution: We created a very logical and clean menu structure and added sharp, colorful graphics to make the learning experience more enjoyable. Four key learning areas were highlighted: Understanding Autism / Tools for Caregivers, Help with Daily Routines / Self Help, Social Skills / Communication / Safety, and Behaviors. With over 50 modules, Porchlight provides parents with a useful resource that can be accessed 24/7, when they need it most.

Results: Our modern, professional website for Porchlight helps to navigate the overwhelming amount of information on autism. The upgraded learning modules help those affected learn ways to manage behaviors and other challenges at home. The implementable strategies presented in concise, high impact terms help parents and caregivers communicate effectively with pediatricians, therapists, case workers, teachers, and others on the care team. The information provided is not meant as a substitute for a professional therapist, but merely to provide suggestions on how to make use of ABA and other behavior techniques. We welcome your comments and look forward to providing you with the skills to better understand behavior and how to make positive change in the lives of those affected by autism.

Promotional Infographic

NASA Research Park

Challenge: We were charged with creating a video to showcase the NASA Research Park (NRP) in Silicon Valley—a world-class shared-use R&D and education campus for industry, academia, nonprofits, and government. The NRP provides a physical place for innovation and entrepreneurship and serves as a technology accelerator through fostering both informal and formal collaborations. The deliverable would be used to entice industry, association, and university partners, to become a part of the onsite collaborating with NASA on a variety of technologies and disciplines.

Solution: The Collaborative decided an animated infographic would be the best creative solution to capture attention and get across the needed information to potential NRP partners within a very tight time frame (3 minutes). Also known as “whiteboard drawings,” animated infographics convey information, data and statistics through a blend of words and images. They also have the added dimensions of an audio track (with music, voiceovers and sound effects) plus the audience responds especially well to seeing the artist actually drawing the animation. This method offers a compelling visceral reaction and a proven retention of information vs. routine videos.

Results: The NRP used the animated infographic as one component of a robust recruiting campaign for new residents. The effort has paid off as the Research Park has filled its vacancies and now boasts over 70 customers on the cutting-edge of new technology in the Heart of Silicon Valley. The Collaborative is proud to be listed as one of those tenants.

Demo Reel

A Gift for Laughter Productions, Inc.

Challenge: The Collaborative partnered with A Gift for Laughter Productions, Inc., a TV Production Company creating compelling, funny, and exciting programming. Together, they will soon be offering a wide range of television shows for audiences to enjoy today and remember tomorrow. An initial task was to create a short demo video to highlight an upcoming documentary: A Gift for Laughter—a feature length “docu-comedy” telling the remarkable story of the Jewish contribution to American comedy. The demo video needed to be compelling, memorable, enjoyable and most of all, bring in investment money.

Solution: We created a demo video with original interviews of comedy experts, directors, agents, combined with archival clips of the greatest routines and performances. The demo reel gave an introduction to the remarkable story of the overwhelming Jewish contribution to comedy (in spite of being such a small percentage of the population) and its influence on comedy performers of all backgrounds.

Results: The video is being used during the funding phase of the project. The potential investors who have watched the video have already begun providing the needed financial backing to take the project to the next level. An additional benefit of the video will be to use it as a “teaser” to studios that will also be enlisted to be part of this important heritage project.