Top-of-mind awareness is critical in business, and certainly for those competing to bring commerce to their communities. Long-time client, the Savannah Economic Development Authority helps businesses move to, and succeed in Savannah.
For their Thanksgiving mailer they wanted to connect with site selection professionals, stand out as an organization and say “thank you” to their strategic partners and collaborators.
What we did:
Following conversations around important themes in SEDA’s communication strategy, we decided to shine a spotlight on the growth potential of Savannah’s economy. We settled on the metaphor of an acorn and an oak tree in part because the city is famous for its canopy of majestic oaks.
And since every majestic oak begins as a tiny acorn, we designed the front of the card to be minimal. The impact of the card happens on the inside — it’s a pop-up tree!
Anyone who’s ever enjoyed a pop-up book knows how amazing it is to watch something take shape and transform right in front of you. We worked through many physical mockups of different sizes and heights of trees, different mechanics for how it attached to the base and tests for how the different components would fit together and still be kinetic.
The dramatic root system at the base of the oak tree served as a stabilizing component, and also provided us with enough real estate to call out important features in the Savannah economy like the port, labor pool and the many area colleges and universities.
The final product turned heads! It celebrated Savannah and made a strong statement that SEDA was not your grandma’s economic development organization.
“Paragon has worked with the Savannah Economic Development Authority on a wide range of projects from developing, producing and packaging concepts for targeted specialty gift mailings to the design of our latest annual report. Their creative is always fresh and polished. You could not find higher quality design work, or higher quality people.”
Brynn Grant, COO, SEDA
