MISSION
In 2002, Pat Tillman proudly put his NFL career with the Arizona Cardinals on hold to serve his country. Family and friends established the Pat Tillman Foundation following Pat’s death in April 2004 while serving with the 75th Ranger Regiment in Afghanistan. The Pat Tillman Foundation unites and empowers remarkable military service members, veterans, and spouses as the next generation of public and private sector leaders committed to service beyond self.
In 2017 the foundation brought me in as the sole in-house creative after years of working with an agency on both a pro-bono and contract basis. At the time the two-person Marketing and communications team needed to have someone on the team who could handle the day-to-day visual components of the marketing. It was an incredible amount of work but I relished in the opportunity to carve out a unique creative position in the brand. During my time there I believe I greatly raised the standards of communications while learning multiple skills in the process.
The mission of the marketing and communication team was to not only raise money but to communicate the incredible stories of the Tillman Scholars. Our multi-channel marketing heavily focused on email, web, and social campaigns. Our team worked 80% in-house, only utilizing vendors to accomplish a large video, website, and print projects.
TEAM
Michelle McCarthy - Director of Brand & Comms
Shannon Speshock - Communications Manager
Taylor Colliau - Marketing Manager
John O’Connor - Art Director / Graphic Designer
PROJECT: 2019 IMPACT REPORT
The Annual Impact Report was one of the first large projects that I took on when I started at PTF. It is a digital and print document that communicates the mission of the foundation specifically through the past years events and data. I share this project first amongst PTF projects because it encapsulates the brand and the variety of work that I did during my stint at the foundation. The challenge I had with this project as well as throughout the brand was to juxtapose the story of Pat Tillman next to the Tillman Scholar Stories
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PRINT VERSION
Every year we produced the Impact Report, we matched a print version of the document with the digital version. Nearly identical to the digital version, this booklet became an invaluable tool to both the Development and Programs team to communicate with both Scholars and Donors throughout the year.
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PROJECT: 2019 IMPACT GIVING CAMPAIGN
Paired with the Impact Report, the Impact Campaign was an end of year giving campaign that focused on #GivingTuesday. A national movement to create an international day of charitable giving at the beginning of the Christmas and holiday season. The foundation made an ask of supporters through an extensive email and social media campaign. In 2019, I produced a series of both static and video content to promote the campaign and the Tillman Scholar stories.
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2019 CAMPAIGN VIDEO
At the Pat Tillman Foundation there was often a limited budget for marketing and communication projects. This required me to be resourceful as well as creative when we attempted to create content to engage of supporters. It also required me to develop skills, like video editing on the fly. With Premier Pro and a library of both B-roll and interviews, I worked up this video to be used in multi-channel marketing.
PROJECT: PTF WEBSITE REDESIGN
During my third year at PTF the foundation began a redesign project for the brand’s website. Our team worked with a local agency, Orbit Media Studios on this project to develop a Wordpress template system. Orbit Media followed our team’s guidance to create a website that would be both more content and adjustment friendly. My role in this project transitioned from Art Director to UI and Graphic Designer when Orbit handed the 75% finished website over to our team.
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PROJECT: TILLMAN HONORS
Tillman Honors celebrates Pat Tillman’s legacy by honoring those who exemplify his fortitude and spirit of service, and who have carried that legacy forward through remarkable civic contributions. The annual benefit includes the presentation of the Champion and Make Your Mark Awards and showcases the global impact of Tillman Scholars as the next generation of leaders committed to service beyond self.
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My role for this event was a combination of Art Director, Producer and Graphic Designer. The highlight of the event are three TED style talks that are produced for an audience and video.
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PROJECT: MISCELLANEOUS
As an in-house creative, you need to be a self-starter and incredibly resourceful. A challenge I faced at PTF was the need to incorporate low res photography from multiple sources in one project. After realizing this challenge early on at PTF, I decided to used as much of my own photography as possible.
