Shay Onorio, President & Owner, Red Thinking has worked in brand strategy and design for more than 24 years for organizations throughout the DC Metro Area — and this year, she’s partnering with McGruff The Crime Dog to help the National Crime Prevention Council (NCPC) shed a light on the global fentanyl epidemic. Owning and operating a boutique marketing agency allows Onorio to focus her attention on guiding and nurturing brands’ overall missions, so when she was presented with the opportunity to work on the National Crime Prevention Council’s The Lives Project‘s Digital Remembrance Quilt, she and her team were all hands on deck. The mission: To remember and to celebrate the people lost to the fentanyl epidemic.
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Shay Onorio’s Latest Project Sheds Light On Fentanyl Epidemic
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Q: How did the opportunity to work with The Lives Project and McGruff develop?
A: The National Crime Prevention Council reached out to me and Red Thinking, to work together on online brand enhancement for their “Go For Real – Say No To Dupes” campaign, powered by the very cool McGruff The Crime Dog. That campaign focused on shifting buying habits of teens and tweens away from dangerous dupe products to genuine goods. From this first initiative together, ideas kept rolling, and we dove right into The Lives Project: A Fentanyl Digital Remembrance Quilt.
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Q: What aspects of The Lives Project campaign are you working on?
A: My team and I were asked to go-digital with this idea which was inspired by the AIDS Memorial Quilt. The idea itself came from Paul DelPonte, Executive Director NCPC, on behalf of the ever growing (in the wrong way) fentanyl epidemic. TheLivesProject.org
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Specifically, we designed the brand concept as a whole and then produced a microsite whose goal was to launch just before a large October 2022 summit on the very topic of the epidemic. Actress Ava Michelle, and McGruff the Crime Dog® unveiled the digital fentanyl memorial quilt where three key government agencies came together with community leaders and other advocates to find solutions that addressed this U.S. public health crisis.
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Q: When working on public health and safety crises, what’s the biggest challenge?
A: Extreme sensitivity, because the goal is to help put an end to this crisis through education and a call for donations. However, we also want people to know this is a place to honor the individual they’ve lost with a photo and message. It’s a delicate balance of emotion to honor someone lost to this crisis, and ask for support to help fight back. We learned some unsettling stats during the course of this project. It was a valuable learning experience for all of us.
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Q: What is your approach to marketing a serious matter, such as the fentanyl epidemic.
A: The visual memory of the AIDS Memorial Quilt for Paul (NCPC), was something he felt could be created digitally in a respectful manner. By way of patchwork and specific animation, we [Red Thinking] worked to create an inviting yet impactful place for the different audiences visiting this site to find what they were looking for, easily. We also certainly intended for folks to see the impact this epidemic is having on our nation, quickly.
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Q: On a lighter note, what’s your ideal day in Washington DC look like?
A: With my family! This Spring Break I saw DC in a different way with my husband and daughter. We live in Loudoun County so we hopped on the Silver Line and went straight to Foggy Bottom. I used to work in that area and while I’m downtown pretty frequently, I realized I had not been to that neighborhood since well before the Pandemic. It was amazing to see it from the perspective of my 10 year old daughter, the Metro ride probably being the best part. I laughed as I showed her how to get her ticket, and off we went. It was gorgeous out and we grabbed lunch, a sweet treat, and we were back to suburbia. I do miss the action of being in DC more regularly.
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Q: What’s your secret when it comes to marketing and branding an organization?
A: What good is a brand if no one has heard of it? Especially those who could use your product or service. Every brand has competition, no matter what you offer. Never assume you are the best until you can absolutely justify your WHY. And your WHY is not your how, or what. From there, shout it from the rooftops, but in the right places. Understand your audience(s) through research, feedback, observations and more. We are all over-crowded by ads and marketing, everywhere we turn. Your brand WHY better be ready to own any moment in the spotlight it gets and if you don’t know WHY what you’re offering is important or matters, the buyer or prospect certainly won’t.
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