Open All Night

Another great article I found on the HOW Design site. This one profiles a "Create-a-Thon" hosted by a design agency to help pro-bono clients. According to the RIGGS website:

CreateAThon® is an innovative way of handling your agency’s pro-bono work and an outstanding way to make a positive impact on your community. It is a 24-hour blitz of creative energy focused on benefiting local non-profit organizations. Here is a brief summary of how CreateAThon® works:

* Your agency solicits applications from local 501(c)3 organizations.
* You select a group of projects based on recommended criteria.
* The number of projects accepted is based on the capabilities of the individual agency.
* These projects are then completed start to finish during a 24-hour period.

Here's the story from the ad agency that hosted one for the the Philadelphia/South Jersey area:

So on September 11, 2003, Hypno led CreateAThon with an elite crew of guest art directors, copywriters, account execs and lunatic friends helping needy organizations with $165,500 worth of pro-bono services. We used the article to recruit other like-minded creatives and businesses; photographers, printers and paper manufacturers all answered the call of duty.

When word spread that Hypno was hosting CreateAThon, I started getting emails from people I'd never heard of volunteering to work with us. There was no shortage of talent, although there was a run on available desk space. And Hypno was flooded with requests from needy organizations that heard about the event through the nonprofit grapevine. Nonprofits had been hit hard by the economic slump and many desperately needed creative services.

Within 72 hours of the start of the event—from the first scribbled notes during client meetings to the final products—we saw fully realized posters, brochures, newspaper ads, flyers, postcards, logos, videos, Web sites and billboards. The work was fantastic, and clients were tearfully happy, not only because the creative work, printing and materials were free, but because the projects' quality was top-notch. An excellent printer, Chapel2000, donated printing and materials.

I'm trying to get my mind around a way this concept would work in the legal business. If you have any ideas, let me know.