The City of Philadelphia had been waiting nearly three decades for a public-access cable television network when PhillyCAM won the exclusive charter for providing this eagerly anticipated service.
The non-profit TV station airs publicly produced content and offers member access to everything from studio space and equipment to educational workshops and professional resources. We first met with PhillyCAM during their relocation to new office space to assist with their need for a permanent and memorable brand identity. They soon engaged us to help brand the new organization, realizing that our “strategy-first” process gave us an edge in interpreting their needs from an audience-focused perspective.

Bright TV test pattern colors provided the inspiration for telling the visual story of PhillyCAM’s brand.
We approached this process, as we often do, by conducting a series of qualitative discovery measures, including an audit of activities and resources, a survey for key stakeholders and members, and a stakeholder discovery workshop. Based on our findings, we created a brand brief and visual branding guidelines centered around a new identity framework which included a new tagline, “People Powered Media.”


Our designs translated handily into environmental signage designed by Philadelphia-based Metcalfe Architecture & Design for PhillyCAM’s exterior.
The results of this process guided the creation of a comprehensive brand awareness campaign and a collection of key collateral materials that now better represent and communicate PhillyCAM’s key attributes: creativity, individuality, collaboration, and stewardship. We created design guides for their existing Drupal website, as well as an e-newsletter, which the client now uses to communicate important information, news, and events to their constituents. The collateral also included a full suite of print materials — including business cards, stationery, and direct mail templates — inspired by the bright colors in traditional TV color test patterns.
Recently, our designs came full circle when they were translated by Philadelphia-based Metcalfe Architecture & Design into new environmental signage for PhillyCAM’s exterior.