1.

0 Research:
1.1 Research paper
1.2 Creative brief

2.0 Creative:
2.1 Sketches
2.2 Moodboard
2.3 Preliminary Ideas

3.0 Style Guide:

3.1 Brand Identity
3.2 Typography
3.3 Print Guidelines
3.4 Website Guidelines

4.0 Final Designs:

4.1 Logo
4.2 Print designs
4.3 Web site
Research Paper

Abstract

P
it bulls are one of the most misunderstood and misrepresented dog
breeds by the general public and media. The breed has been banned in
various cities across the United States. Local legislation is looking at
banning the breed state wide in some states in the US. This breed is the number
one breed in the country but the hardest to find a home for. There are roughly
200 pit bulls euthanized each day in Los Angeles County. The Support the
Breed campaign is here to unite the National Football League (NFL) and Out
of the Pits (OOTP) organizations to better educate the public about the pit bull
breed and help out rescue missions like OOTP. This campaign will use utilize
a dedicated website at supportthebreed.info, print ads, television commercials,
and other strategic marketing campaigns to spread the word. The campaign
will utilize the power of the NFL and the tenacity of OOTP to broadcast their
message to the masses in as many outlets as possible. The goal is to increase
adoptions and funding starting with OOTP and leading to other rescue centers
across the country. This campaign will help to find these dogs a loving home
while showing the truth about the breed. If someone was representing some-
thing you loved incorrectly, wouldn’t you want to fight back?

1.1
 Support the Breed
T
he National Football League
(NFL) and Out of the Pits (OOTP)
are joining forces to create the
Support the Breed campaign. This cam-
paign will better educate the public about
the pit bull breed while restoring the im-
age of the NFL. The NFL is in need of
reestablishing their positive image while
OOTP is in need of financial and media
backing for their pit bull rescue mission.
In the past few years, the players of the
NFL have created an image for league that
is not very favorable in the public eye.
The media has painted a picture of the pit
bull breed as a vicious dog that can kill
at will. Currently, the NFL does not have
any running campaigns related to animal
abuse or education. By backing OOTP,
the NFL will show the public that their
organization does care about and sup-
port nonprofit organizations. OOTP can
spread the word about the pit bull breed
not only locally in New York but, across
the nation. There are pit bull bans in cities
across the U.S. from Gardendale to Denver
to Miami. The next step for these govern-
ment agencies is to ban pit bulls state wide
which local government is attempting to
do in California and Georgia. This will be
done in haste due to people in power not
being educated about the pit bull breed.
This paper will review the campaign and
how the campaign can empower a move-
ment to change views on the pit bull breed.
Also examined is how the campaign can
positively affect the NFL as well. So ask
yourself, why is the pit bull being targeted
instead of other breeds that are considered
dangerous as well?
The NFL strives to keep
a favorable public image. They
teach rookies from the beginning
how important image is the play-
er and the league. Before a play-
er hits the field they go through
training classes about image and
how to handle themselves off the
field (Tadych, 2008). There have
been some player issues over the
years but they were far and few
between. In those instances they
did not spread like wildfire like
they do today due to technology
and media. Over the past few
years, the NFL has been hit with
repeated issues of their players
being in the negative spotlight
due to criminal activity. One
incident with Pacman Jones in
Las Vegas left a club bouncer
paralyzed (Saraceno, 2007). Don-
te Stallworth killed a man in a
drunk driving accident (ESPN,
2009). The incident that led to
this campaign was when Michael
Vick was convicted of charges
in a dog fighting ring which in-
volved pit bulls (Maske, 2007).
Currently, the NFL does not have
an active nonprofit campaign re-
garding pit bull education. They
do work with the United Way and
had an active campaign last year
called NFL Play 60 which was
to motivate kids to play outside
at least 60 minutes a day (NFL,
2010). With all the negative
press, the NFL needs more posi-
tive imagery in
1.1.1
in the media. This campaign
can contribute to their positive
image with the public. Fans do
not want to support a player
that has committed an act like
Michael Vick did. Michael Vick
was the starting quarterback for
the Atlanta Falcons. After the
incident the team lost their star
QB and also some of their fan
base which caused a decrease in
revenue. In this economy, not
even the NFL can afford signifi-
cant revenue loss. Now the NFL
owes it to the public to right the
wrongs of their player since he
was committing animal cruelty.
The NFL is the richest sports
league in the world, with the
average team worth some $957
million. To top it off the Dal-
las Cowboys are the most valu-
able sports franchise in the world
(Forbes, 2007). By contributing
to this campaign, it will help
keep the NFL ahead of their
competition.
People hold animals close
to their heart since most of them
consider their pet a part of the
family. As they say, a dog is
man’s best friend. There are
many dog lovers across the coun-
try. In the United States there
are 77.5 million dog owners (The
Humane Society, 2009). Even
though this incident was done by
only one player it reflects on the
whole league. This incident can
be a turn off for current fans and
any future fans. Since Michael
Vick’s crime was against the pit
bull breed, it is easier to focus on
the breed specifically instead
of dogs in general. With the
aid of the NFL this campaign
can educate the public about the
breed on a greater level than
most other organizations that are
just local. The NFL can cover
the U.S. as well as some coun-
tries such as Mexico, Canada and
England, where exhibition games
are played. This campaign is the
start of educating the public and
portraying the pit bull in a posi-
tive manner.
Out of the Pits (OOTP) is
a non-profit organization that has
been rescuing pit bulls and pit
mixes for the past thirteen years.
They are committed to restoring
the pit bull image back to be-
ing a family dog instead of be-
ing portrayed as a viscous killer.
The organization is dedicated to
educating the public about the
true nature of the breed. OOTP
has rescued 1,000 pit bulls (Out
of the Pits, 2001). By aligning
themselves with the NFL in the
Support the Breed campaign, it
will significantly increase their
reach and presence. Currently,
OOTP is well known in the tri-
state are; New York, New Jersey,
and Connecticut, but not on a
national level. Commercials will
be aired during the football sea-
son which will be seen by mil-
lions of viewers nationwide. Last
year there was an average of 17
million viewers through the first
four weeks of the season. That
was a 14% increase from 2008
(Street & Smith, 2009). TV expo-
sure has helped Shorty Rossi, the
Pit Boss and Villalobos Rescue
1.1.2
Center, Pit bulls & Parolees by
having TV shows airing on Ani-
mal Planet by bringing pit bulls
to the mainstream media. In ad-
dition, there will be a website for
the campaign as well as print ads
placed in sport magazines such
as ESPN and Sports Illustrated.
Lastly, posters will be imple-
mented at NFL events, OOTP
events, and in pet stores such
Petco and Pet Smart. This cam-
paign will bring in much needed
donations for OOTP so they can
expand their facilities and rescue
more pit bulls. Each medium
will reach a larger coverage area
than just the tri-state area. This
campaign will allow more rescues
to happen. OOTP is just a step-
ping stone for the pit bull educa-
tion movement. The campaign
can be expanded from OOTP on
the east coast to other rescue
centers across the country. There
is room to add partners that can
help and benefit from this cam-
paign as well such as other sports
leagues and pet store chains.
Designing for the campaign
will include print materials, TV
commericals, and a website. Due
to the nature of the breed, imag-
ery has to be carefully chosen to
not turn off the audience. The
pit bull is being presented as
a loving, caring, and loyal dog.
Therefore, any negative imagery
must be avoided. Imagery must
be neutral or positive. There will
be no imagery showing the pit
bull in an aggressive stance or
manner. The imagery that will
be utilized will show the dog with
children, elders, and working peo-
ple while making a difference in
the community rather than taking
away from it. This imagery will
be used to touch the heart of the
viewer.
Print ad designs will be
created for magazines and post-
ers. Ads can be placed in maga-
zines such as ESPN, Sports Il-
lustrated, National Geographic,
Dog World, and Dog Fancy to
name a few. Three concepts
have been designed for the maga-
zine ads. One has an image of
a pit bull sitting sniffing a child
who is hysterically laughing. The
child looks like he is having a
really good time with the dog.
The headline states, Kid Tested,
Owner Approved and the body
copy reads, “See Buddy doesn’t
want to harm your kids, he only
wants to play. Early in the 20th
century, pit bulls were actually
the #1 family dog.” Another
design concept is a big image of
an adorable pit bull face. The
headline states, “How could you
say no to this face?” and the body
copy reads, “According to Alfons
Esteit of the American Tempera-
ment Test Society, Inc. tempera-
ment evaluation of American
Pit Bull Terriers shows that this
breed has a very high passing
rate of 95%. The average passing
rate for the other 121 breeds of
dog in the test: 77%. Lastly, the
final magazine ad design concept
has two images. One image has
a pit bull standing next to a wolf
and the other image has a pit
bull and a bear cub nose to nose
1.1.3
sniffing each other. The head-
line states, “We can be friends
with anybody!” and the body copy
reads, “Each year, 350 people
drown in their bathtubs. You are
151 times more likely to be killed
by your bathtub than you are by
a pit bull.” On each design, sup-
porthebreed.info is located at the
middle bottom, on the left side of
the URL is the NFL logo and the
OOTP to the right side.
Television commercials
will be utilized as well dur-
ing the football season and in
the off season. Commercials
can be aired on Sundays during
the regular season and playoff
games. These commercials will
reach a nationwide football audi-
ence to include Mexico on NBC,
CBS, or ESPN. During the off
season commercials can be aired
on NBC, CBS, and ABC to keep
the campaign alive. The com-
mercial can be a 30 second slot
that has a NFL player on the
field with a pit bull. The player
would state an intriguing pit bull
fact like from the print ads and
advise them about the Support
the Breed campaign. He would
direct them to the site for more
and then have supportthebreed.
info at the bottom of the screen
at the end of the commercial.
Lastly, the campaign would
encompass a website at sup-
portthebreed.info. The site is
in blue hues, the background is
a dark blue, the navigation is
Carolina blue and the foreground
is a medium blue. Text in the
navigation bar is dark blue, text
in the background is white and
text in the foreground box is
black. There is a rectangular
navigation box above and to the
left of the foreground box. The
viewer clicks on the link in the
navigation box which shows the
information in the foreground
box. In the navigation box there
are links for home, info, proj-
ect, events, donate, and contact.
The home page has text in the
foreground box that states, “A
project brought to you by the
NFL & Out of the Pits to better
educate the public about the pit
bull breed.” Then there is an in-
spirational pit bull video and the
image of the kid laughing with
the pit bull. The NFL & OOTP
logos are below the video. Below
the foreground box are icons to
Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace.
To the right of those icons are
links to outofthepits.org, nfl.com,
and supportthebreed.com. There
is a pit bull logo on the bottom
right corner of the foreground
box in white. The information
page will include links to pit bull
info, pit bull myths, pit bull re-
sources, pit bull pros & cons, and
are you ready to be an owner.
This will better educate the view-
er about the breed. The project
link will describe the Support the
Breed campaign in more depth.
The events link will inform the
viewer about campaign events in
their area. The donate link will
take them to a page where the
viewer can donate via PayPal or
send a money order.
1.1.4
Lastly, the contact link goes to a
page with various points of con-
tact for the campaign and OOTP.
This campaign will utilize social
media networking as well through
Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace.

RESEARCH

1.1.5
 Conclusion

T
he Support the Breed campaign will utilize the media
power of the NFL and the knowledge base of OOTP to
spread a positive message about the pit bull breed while
educating and training the public. The NFL will use this cam-
paign to add to their established positive image while OOTP
will gain attention that will bring in donations and volunteers
to better assist their rescue mission. Many pit bulls are eutha-
nized daily in this country due to overcrowding in rescue cen-
ters and not being able to find a home. In some rescue cen-
ters, pit bulls are euthanized as soon as they come in because
they do not attempt to find them homes. They find it easier
to euthanize them instead of keeping then alive to adopt out.
This campaign is intended to spread from OOTP to help other
rescue centers across the country. In the process, the campaign
will educate the public and the media about the truths and
myths about the breed. The campaign wants Americans to fall
in love with the breed again and not be scared of it. Just be-
cause the breed is misunderstood and misrepresented does not
mean they do not deserve a chance in society.

1.1.6
Works Cited

ESPN. (2009, MAR 16). Reyes was leaving work when he died. Retrieved August 15, 2010,
from http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=3982263

Forbes. (2007, Sept 13). The business of football. Retrieved August 18, 2010, from
http://www.forbes.com/2007/09/13/nfl-team-valuations-biz- 07nfl_cz_kb_
mocs_0913nfl_land.html

NFL. (2010). NFL play 60. Retrieved August 15, 2010, from
http://www.nfl.com/news/story?id=09000d5d80b4a489&template=with-
video&confirm=true

Maske, M. (2007, JUL 18). Washington Post. Falcons’ vick indicted in dogfighting case.

REFERENCES
Retrieved August 15, 2010, from http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/art
icle/2007/07/17/AR2007071701393.html

Out of the Pits. (2001). Retrieved August 15, 2010, from http://www.outofthepits.org/

Saraceno, J. (2007, JUN 6). USA Today. No justice yet for vegas shooting victim in pacman
jones case. Retrieved August 15, 2010, from http://www.usatoday.com/sports/colum
nist/saraceno/2007-06-24-saraceno-pacman_N.htm

Street & Smith’s Sports Business Daily. (2009, OCT 9). NFL game viewership up 14%
through first four weeks. Retrieved August 15, 2010, from http://www.sportsbusiness
daily.com/article/133973

Tadych, F. (2008). Image, marketing everything for nfl rookies. Retrieved August 15,
2010, from http://www.nfl.com/news/story?id=09000d5d80938690&template=with-
video&confirm=true

The Human Society of the United States. (2009, DEC 30). US pet ownership statistics. Re
trieved August 15, 2010, from http://www.humanesociety.org/issues/pet_overpopula
tion/facts/pet_ownership_statistics.html

The Real Pitbull. (n.d.). Breed myths. Retrieved August 22, 2010, from,
http://www.realpitbull.com/myths.html

1.1.7
Creative Brief

Objective:
Developing a creative campaign that
will partner the NFL with Out of the
Pits to better educate the public about
the pitbull breed.

Target Company: Non Profit Partner:

Competition:

1.2
Project Goals:

1. Keep current fans and bring in

new fans.
2. Put the NFL back in the spotlight
as a good organization.
3. Better educate the public about the
pitbull breed

Target Message:

The NFL & OOTP are uniting for a

good cause to create a better view of
pitbulls and to turn misinformation
into mythsd

Target Audience:

-mainly male
-18-36
-Blue collar
-United States
-Interests – sports, football, dogs
-Mid to low income

1.2.1
Key Tenets:

1. Honesty
2. Integrity
3. Education
4. Information

Copy Message:

NFL – A league of change

OOTP – Support the breed

Design Style:

Color palette will be blue hues, red, neu-

trals black and white. Design style will
be a bit masculine since that is the main
audience. Fonts will include Arial for
text, Attic for header, Arial Round MT for
subhead, and Cooper Std for alternative
font. The tone will be serious yet caring.

1.2.2
Media #1:

Print ads in magazines such as ESPN, Sports

Illustrated, Dog Fancy, and Dog World.

Posters around OOTP & NFL events.

Media #2:
Website at supportthebreed.
info with social media net-
working sites

Call to Action:

Media #1 - support for OOTP and increase

in adoptions

Media #2 - visit the website

Success:

For Out Of the Pits organization success can be measured by

adoptions. The NFL can run a survey before and after the cam-
paign to see if they have increased reputation like they do with
presidents during term. In cities that do projects with OOTP
they can see if there is an increase in ticket sales.

1.2.3
“The sketches are the pri-
mary chain of events to lead
to creativity for a project at
hand. This allows the de-
signer free roam of ideas.
During the sketching phase
nothing is off limits for the
designer. The designer can
stand back and keep or scrap
any ideas. This allowed me
to review possibilities while
rejecting bad ideas. I wanted
the ideas to flow together yet
still be simple. It was a chal-
lenge to portray the pitbull
in a positive light since most
other designs out there show Did you know?
the pitbull as an intimidating The Pit Bull was so popular in the early 1900’s they were our
force to be reckoned with. So mascot not only in World War One, but World War Two as well.
I looked to soften that tone” They were featured on recruiting and propoganda posters during
this time period.

2.1
Logo Sketches

2.1.1
Print Sketches

2.1.2
Website Sketches

2.1.3
Using wireframes is a great way to begin a web site project, as it allows
you to focus on layout without the distraction of color, type and other
design elements. Concentrate on what goes where on your web pages and
the amount of space that each element takes up, which can be determined
by needs.

2.1.4
Moodboard

The moodboard sets the tone for the campaign. It allows for the pre-
liminary ideas to be focused on core colors, fonts, and imagery. This
moodboard was followed throughout the campaign and tweaked as items
changed during the process.

2.2
Preliminary Ideas

Magazine/Posters

The initial ideas for the print

medias for the campaign that
would be presented in maga-
zine layouts and posters. These
ideas allowed for visualization
of placement for the headlines,
body copy, and other elements.

2.3
Website Mock Ups

The initial ideas for possible

layouts for the STB campaign
website.

2.3.1
Brand Identity

Logo Specifics

The essence of the brand is to provide education and information about the pitbull breed
to the general public and media. The campaign will make current pitbull owners proud
and change views of the skeptics.

Education. Freedom. Loyalty. Pride. Drive. Are some of the core traits and goals of
the breed and brand. The brand will bring people and dogs together for a better
experience.

The visual identity serves the purpose of separating the brand from others so it is
recognizable. The focus of our identity is the pitbull breed and education.

3.1
Logo Colors

The logo can be colored in 3 different blues or black and white. Font and pitbull colors
can be reversed or use below palette. The font used is called Attic.

3.1.1
Color Palette

These are the CMYK & RGB colors to be used throughout the campaign.

3.1.2
Logo Spacing

The logo placement will be prominient on the page. There is no specific placement on
the page that is required. There should be at least a .5 inch space between the logo and
text, images, or the page end.

3.1.3
Logo Do Nots

Do not distort the logo

Do not change logo colors

Do not place anything over logo

Do not place logo on busy background

3.1.4
Typography

The Support the Breed brand and campaign only uses 4 fonts which are Attic, Cooper
Std, and Arial. This will keep consistency with the brand and campaign mediums.

Attic
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
ABCDEFGHIJKLMOPQRSTUVWXYZ
0123456789

Arial
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
0123456789

Arial Rounded MT Bold

abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
0123456789

Cooper Std
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
0123456789

3.2
Print Guidelines

Logo Placement
For all branded print items, including, but not
limited to, magazine ads, posters, flyers, direct
mail, and billboards, the guidelines contained in
this section must be followed to ensure unified and
effective usage of the STB campaign identity.

The logo should be placed in the top left

hand corner in all print media and in its standard
colors.

3.3
Typography Use

STB uses three typefaces to represent itself;

Attic, Arial Rounded MT Bold and Cooper Std.

The following describes uses in print ads,

documents, letterhead, and other print
media. The most important factor is scale and
visual contrast.

HEADLINES ATTIC CAPS

subhead Attic
body copy Arial Rounded MT Bold

website URL Cooper Std

positioning Arial Rounded MT Bold

3.3.2
Website Guidelines

Logo Placement

The Support the Breed logo will appear on the bottom right hand corner of every web page
throughout the site. The NFL or OOTP logos may appear on pages throughout the site but are
not necessary.

3.4
Website Specifics
Website will be designed at 1024 x 768 pixels and coded in HTML/CSS. Copy text will be in
Arial font throughout the site.

Domain: www.supportthebreed.info
Hosting: www.godaddy.com

1. Navigation - 136 x 269 pixels, Arial Rounded MT Bold font, 24pt

2. Attic font, 67.99pt
3. STB logo always in bottom right hand
4. Center text box - 536 x 567 pixels
5. Arial Rounded MT Bold font, 30pt
6. Positive imagery throughout site
7. Video
8. Social networking logos
9. Football field image as background

3.4.1
Color Palette

These are the CMYK & RGB colors to be used throughout the campaign.

3.4.2
Logo Concepts

4.1
Final Logo

The pitbull logo was used due to the strength of

the stance yet not aggressive. The text is clear
and to the point. The logo is recognizable for
the campaign.

4.1.1
Print Concepts

4.2
Final Print

Layout for magazine ads. STB ads will appear in various sports
and animal magazines such as ESPN, Sports Illustrated, Dog
Fancy, Dog World, and National Geographic.

4.2.1
Posters can be used on street signs on
public places to bring more attention to the
STB campaign. The designs really make
an impact on a large scale such as these.

4.2.2
Posters can be used in high traffic areas such as the subway.
They can be placed on building walls like other guerilla marketing
schemes for the STB campaign.

4.2.3
Web Concepts

4.3
Web Final

The STB campaign site can be found at www.supporthebreed.

info. Design was kept as a clean, straight forward approach.
Imagery was used to show the pitbull in a positive light. There are
no aggressive images in the campaign.

4.3.1
4.3.2
Social Media

The Support the Breed campaign has been established on various

social media networking sites arcoss the internet such as Facebook,
Myspace, Twitter, Tumblr, and Blogger. These sites will closedly
match the main website as far as color scheme to keep the identity
consistent across the various sites.

www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001565743273
twitter.com/supportthebreed
myspace.com/stbcampaign
youtube.com/user/stbcampaignfso
vimeo.com/supportthebreed
viddler.com/explore/supportthebreed
plurk.com/supportthebreed
supportthebreed.tumblr.com
supportthebreed.blogspot.com
supportthebreed.wordpress.com
supportthebreed.posterous.com
supportthebreed.jaiku.com
identi.ca/supportthebreed

4.3.3