Face lift: Sametz Blackstone Associates "revives" 15-year-old logo for AIDS Action Committee's From All Walks of Life
New campaign designed to resonate with those who walked 10-15 years ago, attract new participants, and raise awareness and understanding around HIV and AIDS today.
Face lift: Sametz Blackstone Associates "revives" 15-year-old logo for AIDS Action Committee's From All Walks of Life
Boston, MA, May 2005—Sametz Blackstone Associates, collaborating with AIDS Action Committee, is rolling out a new campaign to encourage walkers to participate in the 20th From All Walks of Life pledge walk and to raise awareness around HIV and AIDS.
All around greater Boston—on buses, billboards, in shop windows, ads, and restaurant card racks—is an image that looks familiar to many—but it's actually new.
Fifteen years ago, AIDS was still considered a gay disease by most of mainstream America. And AIDS Action Committee was at the forefront, locally and nationally, challenging stigmas and raising both money and awareness to fight AIDS. AAC's largest fundraising event, From All Walks of Life, was in its fifth year, having grown from an idea in founder Larry Kessler's head to a $2,000,000 fundraiser. In year five, Sametz Blackstone Associates was asked to develop a new identity to better reflect the inclusive, welcoming spirit of the Walk and to reposition it to attract even more people and much-needed dollars.
According to Will Cook, principal and design director at Sametz Blackstone for both the original logo and the new efforts: "The Walk needed to be about people—people from all walks of life—and about all the ways in which AIDS touched people. We photographed dozens of people and evolved an identity that was about specific people—and about everyone. An identity that connected black / white, male / female, gay / straight, young / old. And for many, over six years that this mark evolved, this identity became a powerful, unifying symbol."
Cook continues: "In 2005, AAC asked us to 'revive' the 1990-95 Walk logo to commemorate and celebrate the 20th annual walk. Rather than simply unarchiving the original files, we engaged in a process to create an identity that both connected to the original—and to all it meant—but was built of faces and stories that define the epidemic today. From 20-year veterans to second-generation walkers, these new faces reflect a renewed fight to eradicate AIDS through prevention and education."
"Sametz Blackstone was there at the beginning," recalls Paul Twitchell, Director of Marketing and Online Services for AIDS Action Committee. "They're close with the cause. It was like working with family, actually. You could tell that they were personally committed to getting this right from the moment we called them. I think it will do just what we need: connect to those people who walked 10-15 years ago and attract newer faces for whom the mark will be as fresh now as it was to others in 1990."
About Sametz Blackstone Associates
Sametz Blackstone Associates provides high-level communications counsel to leading corporate, healthcare, financial, academic, and cultural organizations. A twenty-five year-old global practice located in Boston's historic South End, Sametz Blackstone integrates strategy, message development, design, and technology to develop and produce compelling communications that help evolving organizations navigate change. Clients include centenarians and start-ups: the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Scudder Investments / Deutsche Bank, Harvard University, Yale University, MIT Sloan School of Management, Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, McGovern Institute for Brain Research, and Goodwin Procter, LLP. Further information is available at www.sametz.com.
About AIDS Action Committee
AIDS Action Committee (AAC), New England's first and largest AIDS organization, is dedicated to stopping the spread of HIV/AIDS by preventing new infections and optimizing the health of those already infected. AAC provides free confidential services to men and women already living with HIV/AIDS, as well as conducts extensive educational and prevention outreach to those at risk of infection. AAC also runs Massachusetts' only statewide AIDS Hotline (1-800-235-2331) and advocates for effective science-based prevention programs.
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