PROJECT DESCRIPTION

Portland International Airport (PDX) is famous for its local food, shops and of course, the carpet. It’s no wonder it consistently wins the title of America’s best airport. However, the airport is in the midst of 5 years worth of construction projects, dubbed PDX Next, and experiencing more than a little disruption for travelers and employees. The largest project is the main terminal redesign—impacting the entrance, ticketing, and security areas for several years. To prepare for this major disruption, we built a campaign strategy to communicate future plans to travelers and employees before and during construction. Rather than focusing on architectural renderings, the “XO PDX” campaign celebrates local places, people and passions that inspired the new airport design—assuring the public that the future airport will embody the things that people love about PDX. We led a photoshoot to authentically capture local business owners, artists, construction workers, architects, food and PNW nature that inspire and contribute to the airport—acquiring enough content and stories to last a year. An internal goal for project success was to win America’s best airport during construction—which happened again in 2021.

PROJECT INFORMATION

Entry Type: Single Entry

Channel: Cross-Media

Primary Role of the Designer: Designer as brand steward

Client Relationship: Unknown (NA) / Other (if other, please explain) Fixed fee

Intention of the Project: Introduction of a new product, service, or program

Development Budget: More than $50,000

Production/Execution Budget: Confidential / Not Available

Source of Funding: Client

Typefaces: Calibre

Paper:

Materials:

CREDIT INFORMATION

Creative Director: Gwen Sparks Sullivan; Ryan Sullivan

Art Director:

Designers: Gwen Sparks Sullivan; Ryan Sullivan; John Gordon (support)

Researchers: Gwen Sparks Sullivan; Ryan Sullivan

Developers:

Copywriter: Ian Deming

Illustrator:

Photographer: Michael Chung (campaign photography); Micah Fischer (install photography); Thomas Shahan

Printer:

Producer:

Other Credits: Environmental graphics coordinated by PDX in-house design team. Social and web content led by JD Shadel

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