The Calm Moments. And Coffee.

Every internal culture has them. Little pieces of, well... peace. Most of the stories coming out of Third Degree's walls are in full-blown technicolor. We tend to crank the dial all the way up to hot when it comes to expressing ourselves. But today I stumbled on some images that capture, dare I say, our more tranquil side?



Coffee Cup Eggs

Don't they just look like ideas about to hatch? This pic is from about a decade ago I'd say. Many of our ideas have hatched and grown to crowing roosters by now. Mostly the ones for clients. Some of our own ideas, like frying an egg on the sidewalk last summer? Didn't have as fabulous an outcome. And if it's the coffee aspect of this scene that makes you want to sigh, or just head out the door to a Starbucks, check out this video about the virtues of coffee I stumbled on the other day.



Roy On The Road

This is Roy in one of his Up In The Air reflective-while-traveling moments. Except his backpack is anything but empty (you've got to see the Clooney flick to get my meaning here). The point is that Roy shines when he's got a glass of... well, let's say a beverage that's on the other end of the indulgence spectrum from coffee and rhymes with "fine"... a quiet corner, and a head full of blazing ideas.



Notes

Oh, and if a laptop isn't handy to capture one of his epiphanies... one of these little fellas will do just wine. I mean fine... fine. This photo has been on my laptop background forever, but I don't think I've ever shared it until now. It's neat. When I myself use one to sketch out my ideas, I try to use more descriptive words than "neat."



This Old Elevator

This is a Shining-like photo of our building's elevator entrance before it was remodeled. I kind of miss the exposed circuit boxes and the seventies-trying-to-be-turn-of-the-century sign in powder blue. This "little elevator that could" may be a bit modernized today, but it still kind of creeps people out.



Hall Pass

Probably because Brett is creeping down the back hallway up on the second floor. All he needs is a twin, and then it really is The Shining. This is our coffee escape hall, bathroom escape hall, escaping to the bathroom because you've had too much coffee hall. But this particular stance Brett is displaying, really has no explanation.

Just a calm moment at Third Degree. Eerie calm. But calm all the same for now.

Open. Honest. Hardrocking: Credit Union Internal Rebrand Launch

ABNB Federal Credit Union is a progressive, people-friendly credit union out of Virginia that prides itself on being open, honest, and hardworking – and they needed a platform that would reflect that.





And that's where Third Degree came in. Ta-da!

ABNB whole-heartedly embraced their new look, and wanted to make sure their employees felt the love before unveiling it to the rest of the world. Smart. They launched the brand internally first, and made a day of it!

We made these cool internal culture books for each of their employees. They tell the ABNB story and introduce everyone to all the upcoming awesomeness.



"Better than a bank" was ABNB's previous tagline. But we thought we could make it... well... better.







ABNB was actually considering a possible name change as part of the rebrand. But decided to embrace telling their story versus changing out the sign on the door.

"What ABNB Stands For Today: So while Amphibious Based Naval Base has come and gone, the acronym, ABNB, is here to stay. Why? Because it has come to stand for so much more. Our employees sometimes joke it stands for Apples Bananas Nuts and Berries. But when they wear that ABNB logo, or say they work at ABNB, they know it's special. Perhaps Able, Brilliant, Nice, Brave are words more fitting of our credit union. But when it comes down to it, we have more than words to tell our story. At ABNB, our actions speak volumes."





ABNB had their corporate headquarters wrapped and lightpole-banner-ed out to surprise the employees for the internal launch event. They've since wrapped all 13 of their branches as well.



The all-staff event included ABNB VPs leading skits, sharing stories and singing songs to get everyone excited about the new brand. Rock on.



When there's fake mustaches, you know it's serious.



And each employee left with a small gift (branded,of course ) as well as a homemade mixed CD from their CEO to help express... well, his feeling, naturally.



Of course, never underestimate the power of video to bring an idea to life. The brand video was played at the internal launch, as well, and has since become the platform for a series of spots, as the brand is now in the external phase of it's launch, with television, radio, in-branch signage, merchandising, video and web. So ABNB can let the rest of the world know exactly how open, honest and hardworking they really are.

Our Bulletin Is Anything But Bored

Someone once told us they felt like they already knew the people at Third Degree just by visiting our web site. It's true, we do post a lot of pictures of ourselves. Sometimes in costumes. We tweet. We blog. We post our key-lime-throwdown and our frying-an-egg-on-the-sidewalk results on Facebook. But there's also a good old fashioned way to get a peek into our agency culture.



Our break room (we call it the diner) bulletin board.



Fight On storyboard and diner sign we made as prop for end of video.

Sometimes it reminds of our favorite projects.



Tin cans for our Inside Voice video. Liz's idea day one-sheet about handcrafted elements in design.

We like to give props to our handmade props.

Idea day show-n-share, favorite outdoor boards.

Our office coordinator Misty handmade this billboard replica for idea day. I personally think it's better than the original.



Sometimes it's a place to find inspiration.



This is like a multi-tasking creative's version of a kitten hanging from a tree poster.

This looks like a harmless calendar. That's because we finally started covering up what's on the top half (which is not covered up at all).

Sometimes it just keeps us on schedule.



Like our idea day schedule.



Which is no laughing matter. We're hungry people. Now what's your freakin' idea!?



It's a place of thanks.

Our clients are nice. And have good manners. Like, they probably don't say freakin' as much as we do.

Roy's daughter Kendall's artistic contribution. Third Degree creative director 2030.

Our kids are nice, too. And, they probably do say freakin' as much as we do. Because we're bad influences that way. But at least the creativity is rubbing off. And the boastfulness. But, hey... what are bulletin boards for?

Getting Famous, People

There's this exercise we do when we're digging deeper into an organization's brand. It sounds a little hokey at first, but it actually sparks a ton of conversation and really does give us (and them) a different way to view their organizational "personality" as a whole.



We ask them to answer this question: "if you're organization were a famous person, which famous person would they be?"

Hey, it's not like we're asking what kind of tree they would be.

This particular group represented above, had a very rugged, of-the-people, vibe. And they like hats (even though Reba wasn't wearing hers here).

This was actually a voting ballot we created after we got everyone's answers.

John Wayne won. Of course. Who can beat out the "King?" Wait, no, the "Duke?" Wait, no... that's right. I just Googled it.



Sometimes we'll go a step further and then compare how the organizational persona stands up to their customer's persona. So from Bill Gates on one end to Average Joe on the other, it can be a telling exercise.



How we work out the customer persona is a lot less about celebrities and more about focusing in on all the things that make up that real person: life stage, age, gender. Sometimes when we get a really enthusiastic group, we'll even talk about where they vacation and if they own a boat. It happened. See "Bill's" boat up there?

This is all done through group collaborative discussion (sometimes shouting, the good kind) and a whole lot of gettin' crazy with the markers.

Of course we always like to do these exercises on ourselves as well.

So when we asked Third Degree-ers what famous person our agency would be, we got some really interesting answers. Here are just a few:



Tina Fey actually got two entries.

"She is smart, quirky, hard-working and coming into her own."

"She is witty, edgy and respected. The first woman head writer for Saturday Night Live.
And like our CEO, Roy, she tests the boudaries of appropriateness :)"



Jean Chatzky, Money Magazine editor and Today Show guest contributor.

"She works to break down complex messaging into practical, useful and compelling information relevant to the target audience."

Wow. Very practical answer. One guess which Third Degree-er that came from.



Robert Downey Jr.

"We've been around the block, know what's up and are still a bit of an underdog...."



"... plus Iron Man's pretty much branded with our colors."

One guess what department the person who made that comment came from.



The Brat Pack

And speaking of the edge of inappropriateness. Guess who chose the entire Brat Pack as our Third Degree persona? Roy. A true eighties boy. And his words:

"They were hip for their time, slightly irreverent, but made one hell of a splash together. They had the look and the attitude to back up their popularity. Individually they all had their own accomplishments, some more than others. But almost everything they did as a team was a success. So that's us... just a pack of brats."

Well said.