By Katherine Dodds On October 15, 2014 | 0 Comments
#Inequality! A topic well worth a
blog day of action. Tonight in Montreal "The Price We Pay" is a relevant film on this topic
One of the lasting legacies of Occupy Wall Street has been the meme the “99%” A sense of injustice that the economic crash exposed unified many individuals and organizations. This sense of profound unfairness, of the depth of inequality we are facing is the activist battle of our times.
And the fight for economic justice will be long and hard. People with power and money do not give it up so easily. They are very good at looking for loopholes. The root cause of so many of the problems we face in the world – poverty, war, and human rights abuses, women's rights, GLTBQ rights, even climate change, all have economic inequality at their core.
This economic injustice and the outrage it rightly causes in so many people, is at the root of a great new film by our friend Harold Crooks (The Corporation, Pax Americana) – his new documentary “The Price We Pay” about tax havens just launched to much fanfare at the Toronto and Vancouver Film Festivals. It also screens tonight in Montreal through Cinema Politica.
This day is also the day we are launching our new portfolio site – and we’re choosing to feature the work we've recently done for one of our favorite clients — Inter Pares.
Inter Pares' name means "Among Equals" and they are an organization that takes this very seriously. In fact, it has become their brand! We did a year long branding process for them, doing a communications audit, conducting workshops with staff, surveying their counterparts and donors, and a large survey of the public in both English and French. As an organization that has been around since the 1070’s they needed an update to their image, and tools to tell their story. And theirs is story that needs to be told.
Inter Pares is based in Ottawa. They have long-term relationships with their counterparts -- local and national activist organizations – in Asia, Africa, Latin America and Canada.
Their staff is all paid equally, and instead of staffing offices overseas, they work in support of local groups. They believe, as they say on their new website in “solidarity, not charity as an approach to international cooperation.” Their programs largely focus on six global issues: food sovereignty, women's equality, peace and democracy, economic justice, health and migration.
The challenge we had was to compellingly – and quickly—convey their essence – to distill their 40 year history of working with courageous activists around important and often difficult issues into an image and tagline that will help them gain new supporters in a noisy non-profit climate where everyone is in need of donor dollars.
The new logo, has a hand-made feeling (something our market research told us was important). A calligraphic brush stroke implies the world, it’s blue green colours and gesture bring the north and south together, and their tagline ‘globalize equality’, ‘mondalisier l’égalité’, is the very core of what is at stake. In a world where globalization is causing inequality, poverty, violence and so many of the problems society faces, it’s time to globalize the root cure -- equality is the answer we are all seeking.
We’re really proud that we were able to contribute to the work that Inter Pares is doing. Based on the public’s survey feedback we came up with an illustration style that could be used for their website and other materials that has the same feeling as the logo. These illustrations are based on Inter Pares own photos, and are part of the new website Inter Pares just launched.
We also did a display banner for them and thanks to a donor who paid for the ad space we did a full page ad for them in The Walrus magazine.
Inter Pares is one of the reasons we love our work so much! Together we’ve been able to take the idea what we at Hello Cool World call ‘social branding’ to a whole new level. At it’s core, social branding embodies the idea of equality – a brand, a logo, an image and especially a tagline, should be a tool for collaboration, for telling stories together, not an empty brand promise to simply sell us on business as usual. With Inter Pares, we are able to challenge ‘branding as usual’ and embrace the work that will transform the world.
We encourage you to visit Inter Pares new website and to support the important work they do!
Katherine Dodds AKA "Kat" is the founder of Good Company Communications and HelloCoolWorld.com. Trained in renegade advertising & branding through her work with Adbusters in the '90s, Kat's early induction into the possibilities of the web-world was inspired by the term hypertext, which she immediately found comforting. She is dedicated to cause-related communication and to the development and use of tools that promote democratic processes.
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By Katherine Dodds On July 16, 2014 | 0 Comments
Everyone is someone's brother, son, father, sister, mother, auntie, cousin... we are all connected.
This is true for everyone, but even more so in First Nation's communities, where tight knit familes, mean the impact on one person is felt by many. This is why the implications of a positive diagnosis of HIV/AIDS has the potential to ripple out. And it's the love families have for their kin that can save communtiies from the devastating effects of stigma. 
We've had the priviledge of working over many years with Chee Mamuk, and recently did two projects we're really proud of: A book of photographs and stories of people living with the affects of HIV "Honouring our Journey" and a video about Chee Mamuk's ongoing program "Around The Kitchen Table" which we've also been involved with in the past.
Freida Prince is featured in both the book and the video which can be seen after the page break. We think her story about losing her son is very moving and hope that the video is widely seen where it is needed as tool to build undertanding for those living with HIV, their families and the community. Thank you Frieda!
By Katherine Dodds On June 13, 2014 | 0 Comments
JULY 13! WOULDN'T YOU LIKE TO DINE AND DISCUSS DOING AWAY WITH CORPORATE HARM?
We have THREE tickets left for a very special Vancouver 'perk' on offer for The Corporation Film's #OffTheCouch Campaign! The dinner will be on Sunday evening, July 13, at 6:30. The next TWO people to claim this, will get the tickets for half price as our Community Producer Mukund Menda has subsidized them.
Vancouverites! Give now and reserve your place at the table for our exclusive secret supper & private jazz concert with Joel Bakan & Rebecca Jenkins (only 3 of 10 spots remaining!)
With a gift to our campaign at the $1,000 level, you can take your place as one of ten guests (and half the spots are already snapped up!) at a dinner party in my very cool Chinatown studio, which includes a private jazz concert by The Corporation author Joel Bakan and his partner, the singer and actress Rebecca Jenkins. You'll be served cocktails (or mocktails) during the concert, followed by a free-range feast that is tailored for your preferences (cooked by me), and will get to chat with Joel over dinner about his new book, a sequel to The Corporation. Please consider giving to our campaign in this way, and share this invite with others who might love to be part of a unique evening.
The illustration above was created by our designer extraordinaire Terry Sunderland, who also brought you The Corporation logo and all our cool campaign graphics. If you contribute at the Secret Supper level, we will also make YOU into an avatar for our activist 'crowd' in future posters and on the website. : ) PLUS you will get signed copies of Joel's books, a print version of the poster, and a DVD of the new cut of the film with your name in the credits as community supporter!
Of course contributions to the campaign at any level are also gratefully received. Even a small donation to the campaign means one more supporter, and we are just as excited about gaining supporters as we are reaching our monetary goal! Contribute Now.
By Katherine Dodds On May 17, 2014 | 0 Comments
Corporations are not the architects of my dreams. Corporate globalization is not my religion, though it be worshipped all around me. Profit over every other earthly concern is not my way of doing business. ~Kat Dodds
Get your tickets for May 26 Vancouver Screening + Panel + Party! RSVP on Facebook
In these dark days of climate change, it sometimes feels like a waking nightmare with facebook feeds flashing before my eyes: Youtube visions of factories burning; tales of terminator seeds; the drones of PR as the call to war; waters rising; unceded territories the scene of corporate crimes, citizens rights eroding through government spying; and even oil spilling on the streets of LA — The plundering of our planet does seem apocalyptic.
There is a devil, and it is in the coporate institutions very DNA.
And the devil's advocates say only they can solve the crises they create.
We need to change the entire game.
The Corporation film, and audiences response to it, has given an albeit secular soul to my work. Working with this head & heart felt film alongside the people who made it, has spanned much more than the past decade. I formed Hello Cool World at the turn of this century so that we'd be ready to build the grassroots campaign to launch the film. Which is why we at HCW are a small, collaborative grassroots motley crew of do-gooders.
And now, we need to do gooder, again.
Which is my dream now: To re-launch the film through our activist and educators communities to re-awaken our collective spirit of resistance and rebuild our faith in each other to solve our problems as citizens, as friends, as communities, to reclaim the soul of democracy, which is solidarity.
Who's coming along on this ride?
XO kat
HELP US GET THE FILM FREE INTO 1000 SCHOOLS!
CROWDFUNDING CAMPAIGN COMING SOON...
Get your tickets for May 26 Vancouver Screening + Panel + Party! RSVP on Facebook
Fans - give us feedback to fuel the revolution: Survey
By Katherine Dodds On April 29, 2014 | 0 Comments
It's National Canadian Film Day!
We of course have many fantastic Canadian films available on our webstore - but as distributors we would be remiss in not tooting the horn of our two major titles:
THE CORPORATION ~ In preparation for our upcoming Off The Couch campaign - do our survey for Fans of The Corporation, and Save the date for the upcoming Vancouver screening on May 26.
65_REDROSES ~ On the heels of Organ Donation Week and the beginning of Cystic Fibrosis Awareness month - we are offered deep discounted specials for bulk orders of 65_RedRoses. (only in Canada) Spread our #4Eva Campaign by sharing this remarkable Canadian film with everyone you know!
BIG congratulations are also due to filmmaker Nimisha Mukerji (director of 65_RedRoses and Blood Relative) who is going receive a well-deserved award from Women in Film Vancouver tomorrow night.
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