When almost an entirely new board of directors took office in the summer of 2004, they wanted to perk up the collection canister campaign. I set about redesigning the canister insert. The purpose of the new look was two-fold. One, to make the canisters stand out so people would notice them and toss in their spare change. But more importantly, the board wanted the public to realize that there was new energy was flowing into the shelter. There had been some past controversy and for a year or two, the shelter more or less fell out of the public eye.

I designed a dozen different inserts, all featuring brightly colored photographs of animals thinking catchy thoughts. My intention was that someone would see a canister at the local coffee shop, hopefully get a kick out of it, and then walk into the hardware store and find another humorous insert. Two weeks later they might notice yet another canister at a restaurant in a neighboring town. Hopefully sending the message that the animal shelter is back on their feet with new energy.

Collections at nearly every site went up after the redesign and the feedback was positive. Stores that never had collection canisters in the past we're calling the shelter to have one delivered.