The Great Food Drive
How a very nice woman named Mariah turned our food drive purple.
The KGW Great Food Drive has been through many design iterations over the years. Initially an all-blue palette with a bias for natural materials and wooden boxes, the brand kept to a slightly nostalgic and weathered vibe. For many years, it worked well.
But with time we started to find more vitality in the boldest colors of nature—red, greens, blues--and for several years the brand style of the campaign incorporated varying color schemes. This was lively and striking, and it was more effective for print, digital, and video.
In 2021, I landed on a logo treatment that felt different: a flower of vegetables, cheese, and fruits opening around the logo. This was supposed to be an animation treatment for the 2021 campaign, but early in the process I realized this was the new branding. Combined with a simple, elegant background in any of the three signature colors, the campaign brand had matured into something that felt permanent. Which it had.
And then came Mariah. This profile piece for the campaign stood out. We liked Mariah so much, and it was clear this would be the signature piece of the campaign.
Almost on a whim, I decided to make a special background to match the beautiful purple in her dress. I liked how it worked immediately, and once we saw it on air, the rest of the campaign design felt hollow in comparison.
The next year, we went all-in on Mariah Purple, with its complement Mariah Gold. The result is distinctive, bold, and graceful.
Purple, red, green, or blue, the Great Food Drive raises more than 2 million meals for Oregon families, one of KGW’s most impactful campaigns.