For the second year in a row, CRA sponsored Guys Night Out, a YWCA of Charleston fundraiser for its Sojourner's Shelter for Homeless Women & Families.
Sojourner’s provides emergency shelter and supportive services around the clock, every day of the year for homeless single women, women with children, men with custody of their children and intact families. So, it’s a cause CRA is proud to get behind.
Each fall, Guys Night Out coincides with an away game for the West Virginia University football team. The event features more than a dozen big-screen televisions showing the game, food – including the Wings Contest – beverages and a silent auction.
CRA is charged with promoting the event through poster, digital ad and print ad design.
In 2018, the event’s committee decided to base the event’s theme around the movie poster, picking “Old School” as a fitting film. CRA’s creative team helped direct photography featuring committee members in WVU garb. They then used the photography to replicate the “Old School” poster, applying it to various advertising, as well as the event’s t-shirt.
The event was a big success, even though WVU lost to Iowa State.
This year, the committee opted to stick with the movie theme, choosing “Wizard of Oz,” as the University of Kansas would be the opponent. Committee members again were the stars, with a mountaineer stepping in for the Scarecrow, a fan in a #10 jersey taking the Tin Man’s sport, another fan taking Dorothy’s role and a lion, well, playing the Lion. Quincy – CRA Senior Account Executive Danny Forinash’s Yorkshire terrier – was front-and-center as Toto. The event site, Oakes Field, replaced Emerald City, and the yellow brick road became gold and blue.
CRA Graphic Designer Christine Pomatto produced two beautiful poster concepts – one with a night sky and one with a sunny sky, depending on the eventual game time.
The event was again a triumph, raising thousands for Sojourner’s. And even better – WVU beat Kansas.