Challenge

ION’s 50th anniversary couldn’t feel like a predictable retrospective look at the past 50 years. The client wanted to avoid developing a campaign that was overly on-the-nose, and too tightly tied to the ION brand world. The team needed a bold idea: something more personal and heart-driven, creative enough to feel like a movement, and strong enough to carry the celebration all year long.

Solution

The anniversary campaign is centered around a unifying platform: “The Power of Safe.”
A big umbrella idea that could honor 50 years of trust and impact while shifting the story forward—toward shared responsibility and measurable change.

What I loved most about this campaign was the depth, the power of safe is not just physical safety, feeling safe is another level of healing that survivors journey’s include and it’s with the love, care, and support of their family, friends, and service providers like the Ion Center that help them on their journey.

From that spine, we created a full messaging system and activation roadmap:

• Messaging Spine: The Power of Safe + a anniversary line (50 Years of Breaking Cycles and Building Futures Together)

• Rally language that personalizes the mission (survivor + bystander power, “safe starts with me”)

• A flexible visual approach rooted in spark/light and human energy—distinctive, but not overly Ion-branded to allow for the flexibility for partnerships and collaborations to support the mission-led campaign

• A yearlong activation plan that builds quarter to quarter with unique activations that are rooted in spreading the message that Safety has power.

Results

A 50th campaign that reads less like a birthday celebration and more like a city-wide call to action—grounded in Ion’s mission to take the best care of people impacted by violence and reduce harm measurably. The platform gave Ion:

• A clear, ownable story that balances legacy + future

• A modular system for campaigns, partnerships, and events across the year to be both unified and differentiated

• The ability to convert momentum into
  donor engagements

• A cohesive way to celebrate the entire 50 year history of the brand while carrying the message forward into what’s next

• Carefully curated year long activation schedule