City of Chicago

 

Brand Strategy —

As part of the internship at Iris, the interns were tasked with producing a creative campaign for the City of Chicago’s new initiative, the Chicago CityKey. 

 

The Chicago CityKey acts as the city's municipal identification and benefits card. The initiative is intended to give every Chicagoan equal access to resources, jobs, and all that the city has to offer. It goes above and beyond restaurant discounts and museum access, giving every citizen a legitimate identity and paving the way for a better life.

The Product

The team consisted of five interns from creative, strategy, and consulting, and represented the diversity of the target audience: city millennials. Because the program was new, we were given free rein to create the look and feel of the CityKey. We began by producing three overarching creative concepts and, with the help of client feedback and the guidance of our mentors, ended up with one: Unlock Chicago. The idea was to emphasize the card's ability to open doors for the residents of the city while encouraging Chicagoans to embrace inclusivity by steering away from labels such as "North Siders" and "South Siders."

We outlined compelling reasons to get a CityKey, and endeavored to speak to each of these in our campaigns:

  • Innovator – Optimize space with government-issued ID that also serves as a library and transit card; carry less.

  • Money Saver – ID offers benefits and discounts that save the cardholder money on everyday items and cultural activities.

  • Explorer – Explore new neighborhoods using the CTA feature to gain access to cultural institutions and local business partners.

  • Good neighbor – Show support for small businesses in your neighborhood that are partnering with the CityKey program.

  • Proud Chicagoan – Only available to Chicago residents, the CityKey is exclusive to those who call our city home.

The Project

 

 

 

OUT-OF-HOME ADS

I partnered with a fellow Copywriter to develop a content calendar that would accomplish such a feat. We began by researching common health trends and “fun facts” from reliable sources of information that would easily integrate with Mather LifeWays’ established ideology. We communicated with the client team to ensure that our posts were consistently on-brand and appropriate.

The Outcome

     

 

  Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) advertisements.

Billboard advertisements encouraging residents to explore new neighborhoods.

SOCIAL MEDIA

The Project

Previously, the City Clerk's Office had been using their own Instagram to promote the Chicago CityKey. However, we felt it necessary to separate these two entities in order to create content better suited for targeting our audience, millennials. Therefore, we created an Instagram solely for the Chicago CityKey that features user-generated content, partner shout-outs, and exclusive benefits for cardholders.

We established own-able hashtags such as #ChicagoCityKey and #UnlockChicago, and utilized other popular tags in order to gain more visibility for our posts. Through Sprout Social, we were able to create a social media calendar and to schedule daily posts, thus allowing us to effectively grow our follower base and create hype for the product. 

With over 130 followers and 57 likes on our most popular post in just a short month, we saw immense growth in our newly found Instagram. In order to continue gaining traction, we created a social media playbook for the City Clerk's office so they could keep up the aesthetic and brand voice that we developed after our time with them had come to an end.

The Outcome