Winterfest is an annual community event hosted by the Omaha Kroc Center to encourage members of the community to connect with the Kroc Center. The goals of Winterfest 2020 were threefold: 

1. Present the Kroc Center as a professional and wholesome family-focused establishment.

2. Create an experience that moves families through each department of the Kroc Center and showcases the Kroc Center as an "expert" in growing people in mind, body and spirit.

3. Provide a seamless, memory-filled customer experience.

For Winterfest 2020, leadership decided to focus on an Olympic theme as a way for departments to develop games and activities to both support the Kroc Center's goals and highlight what each department offers. It was then our job as the Marketing team to brand the theme in a way that tied into the event branding from previous years and alluded to the Kroc Center's values and mission. As a team, the Strategic Communications Manager and I researched the Olympics and their history as well as the symbolisms of Olympic icons to find ways in which the Kroc Center's values and the Olympics intersected so that we could better understand and develop the brand theme, its campaign and environmental graphics. 

Below is a mind map I created to summarize my research findings and visualize the connecting factors. 

I started by listing the known information for the event: our key messaging themes and the Kroc Center's values. I then moved into exploration of the Winter Olympics, world citizenship, the symbolism of winter, and visuals for past and upcoming Olympic games.

Our initial research into the Olympics uncovered two key ways that Kroc Center values and Olympic principles intersected: diversity/harmony, and sustainability/development of people and communities. Additionally, an important part of the Olympics that we wanted to carry through the event was that the Olympic "host country" shares its culture and heritage with the participants and spectators. 

I was tasked with drafting the visuals for the brand theme and tying them into the existing Winterfest brand. As part of my brainstorming process, I created mood boards (see below) to see how countries represented themselves through athletes' uniforms, equipment, or through signage (in the case of host countries). I also looked to patterns from some of the cultures in the South Omaha area to better connect our event to the cultural heritages of our local community. Finally, I explored Greek art, patterns and symbols to tie in the history of the ancient Olympic games.

The theme logo for the 2020 Kroc Olympics draws its inspiration from both ancient and modern Olympics. The laurel graphic references the crown of laurels presented to victors of ancient Olympic games, while the gold lettering and transparent circle represent the medals awarded to winners of the modern Olympic sports. The red, white and blue colors are a nod to the United States of America and the enjoyment of cheering for our home country in the Olympics. 

The 2020 Kroc Olympics brand theme utilizes a number of nuances as part of its visuals. Red, white and blue striped wave graphics allude to the American flag. A red and yellow course flag implies winter sports common to modern Winter Olympics such as skiing and snowboarding. The icy, frost texture and shaded elements add depth to the design and reinforce the wintry theme. A key nuance to note is the patterned mountain range as these patterns draw inspiration not only from Greek history but also from some of the historical cultures of South Omaha such as Polish, Lithuanian, and Italian. 

With the Kroc Center being the "host country" of the Kroc Olympics, we wanted to create a medal that would be representative of the Kroc Center's values. The three overlapping rings stand for the Kroc Center's holistic approach to health and personal development: Mind, Body, and Spirit. These rings overlap to show that these principles are connected and an essential part of programs and classes. Also, given that the Kroc Center is a part of the Salvation Army, we felt it was meaningful to allude to the spiritual undertone that is present in the center's programming by referencing the Trinity with the three rings. 

Starting in November of 2019, we launched a multi-faceted campaign through both digital and print mediums to bring awareness to the event and get people registered to attend through Eventbrite. The digital portion of the campaign focused on four types of messaging: Informative, Fun (Event), Urgency, and the Kroc Center as an Expert. These focuses were most apparent in our social media ad posts and Constant Contact e-blasts. 

Below, I've highlighted a few samples from our Constant Contact e-blast campaign.

Above is a collection of a few examples of social media video posts used to promote the event. The videos utilize footage from the previous year's Winterfest to give a taste of the atmosphere and fun to be enjoyed at Winterfest 2020. 

In addition to our digital outreach, we created print pieces to distribute around the Kroc Center and spark curiosity in members and guests who came into the center. We also ran an ad in the December edition of the Momaha magazine. 

The above samples are just a few of the pieces that were created to promote and brand the event. Below are visual collateral sheets that depict the breadth of work done for both the promotion of Winterfest 2020 and the materials created to assist with traffic flow and atmospheric branding for the day of the event.

To help create a seamless and memory-filled experience for event visitors, we created two pieces to move families through each of the departments of the Kroc Center: a Guidebook for adults, and an activity Punch Card for kids. Parents used the guidebook to travel to each department to learn about their respective offerings and collect the Kroc Gold Medal stickers that would qualify them to enter in family prize pack drawing once complete. Likewise, children would use their punch card to collect punches from each of the departments' activities and then turn the completed card in to receive a "gold medal."

In addition to the Guidebook and Punch Card, our team created wayfinding signs and devices to help visitors navigate through the Kroc Center and the event's activities. We used hanging banner "flags" (see video below) that used the same color identifiers as the Guidebook maps and the punch cards to identify the different zones or departments to visit.