Leading the way in honoring, celebrating and building a community.

South Dakota State University is home to state-of-the-art facilities, groundbreaking research studies, and a community of students, staff and alumni who make it special. None of this would be possible without donors and the hard work of the SDSU Foundation.

To pay tribute to their most generous and faithful benefactors every year, the SDSU Foundation hosts a Donor Celebration. For over a decade we have produced the show, and in a time of social distancing, it was up to us to lead the way in producing an engaging virtual event.

For 2021, the theme was “Dream Big,” and the SDSU Foundation President & CEO Steve Erpenbach gave us one challenge–make it Crazy Obsessed. Using this as a launch point, we began strategizing, concepting and planning what an all-virtual donor event could look like, and how we could show their messaging in an entertaining way.

To build anticipation for the event, we designed and created a variety of marketing materials, including a logo, invitations and screensavers. Once we knew where we would be shooting, we sketched out what the set would look like, and started planning video shoots.