Jackson Landgreen | Megan Loheed | Henry Cromett | Christian Lindsay
CREATIVE BRIEF
Agency: Team #6 (The Gorge)
Client: The Columbia River Gorge
Who’s the audience? The Athletic Nerd. Tech minded people who love outdoor recreation. They have a “Work Hard, Play Hard” lifestyle. Athletic Nerds live a fun and adventurous lifestyle and are willing to push themselves past the limits in both their work environment and outdoor activities.
What’s the goal? Get Athletic Nerds to relocate to the Gorge. We will show them that in the Gorge they can further their careers aspiration in a growing tech hub, while also being able to explore a more active and adventurous outdoor lifestyle that only the Gorge can offer.
Single most important idea? The Athletic Nerd should relocate to the Gorge because they need a place where they can easily access outdoor recreation after a long day at work.
Why should they believe the message? The Gorge has already proven its worth due to major tech corporations such as Real Carbon and Google, establishing and flourishing in the Gorge. In addition, the Gorge is internationally known for windsurfing, along with skiing and snowboarding at Mt. Hood, and a multitude of other outdoor recreational options that fit the lifestyle of the Athletic Nerd.
Why should they care? The people who embrace being Athletic Nerds see that the Gorge offers everything that they need: a beautiful and pristine place to live, a thriving and expanding tech hub with leaders in their industries that give them opportunities to further their careers, and an incredible array of outdoor recreation. Most importantly, the Gorge is where their active lifestyles can be set free to explore all the Gorge has to offer.
Tone?
Extreme, Fun, Innovative
We want to show that the the Gorge is alive. Athletic Nerds don’t want to move to a place where nothing is happening. We will show how their lifestyle fits perfectly with the collaborative, adventures, yet laid back communities already established in the Gorge.
Potential Problem? TIme. Tech industry workers often work long hours and simply do not have the time to commute to places that host the outdoor activities they enjoy partaking in on a day to day basis.
MOODBOARD
The mood board we created encompasses all the outdoorsy activities the Gorge offers, as well as several “techy” elements. For the outdoor photos, we focused on ones that embodied a more “extreme” feel. With the windsurfing photos in particular, we wanted to encompass the freeing and exhilarating experience that is windsurfing. To do this, we chose photos where the subject was in a somewhat chaotic situation. Of course our focus isn’t only on the outdoor activities of the Gorge, but also on the tech aspect as well. We included pictures that we felt represented what working at one of the many tech companies is like, one of collaboration. We also intentionally only used men throughout the mood board. This was done because we are focusing entirely on men, since we believe they are far more likely to fit the “Athletic Nerd” mold. The pictures are scattered in a somewhat chaotic way to drive home that “extreme” feel. We made sure to include at least one picture of each different outdoor activity, demonstrating the diversity of the Gorge. Finally, we added a few drone pictures in order to highlight what we feel is the prominent aspect of tech in the region.
COLORS
In finding colors that embodied the Gorge, we settled on a combination of earthy and bright colors. The earthy colors include a forest green, brown/tan, burnt orange, and dark brown. These colors represent the outdoorsy feel of the Gorge brand. The bright colors include a bright yellow and bright teal. We want to include pops of these vibrant colors because they represent the windsurfing aspect of the Gorge. Extreme sports, including windsurfing and snowboarding, are commonly characterized with bright and bold colors. The blend of earthy and bright colors embraces all that the Gorge has to offer.
ARCHETYPE
A celebrity or personality that truly defines the Gorge region is the character Chris McCandless from the film “Into the Wild.” This movie is based on the true story of Chris McCandless, who disowned almost all of his personal belongings and moved into the Alaskan wilderness by his lonesome.
There are various personality and character traits that link Chris to the region and also to the target audience, which is the Athletic Nerd. First, Chris was a very educated and intellectual individual. He received a double major from Emory University in the fields of history and anthropology. In addition to his brains, Chris also reflects a sense of independence, something that the many outdoor recreationists of the Gorge region embody through activities that can be classified as individual sports: skiing, kayaking, windsurfing and fishing.
Chris is also a physically talented individual. In high school, he was the captain of his cross-country team and was said to think of the activity as a “spiritual exercise.” Along with Chris’ intelligence and physical talent, his knack for adventure is perhaps his most important character trait linking him to the Gorge region. Throughout his life and his story in “Into the Wild,” Chris was above all a chaser of adventure.
The Gorge region encapsulates the great outdoors and freedom, pushing extreme and adventure, all things which Chris McCandless stood for. To add to the many parallels, we chose Chris from “Into the Wild” because he is played by the famous actor Emile Hirsch, which would allow an audience to be able to relate and look up to his character.
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