Case Study
Youth250
How we built a Gen Z-fluent media operation for the youth-led campaign at the center of America’s 250th anniversary
At a Glance
Client:
Made By Us is a coalition of more than 350 history museums and civic organizations working to engage young people in shaping the future of American democracy.
What We Did:
Brand identity development
Video content
Headline result:
A bold, flexible brand identity and a full-stack media operation supporting Youth250 across creators, broadcast partners, and original content.
The Challenge
Youth250 is the national effort to ensure that young people are not just an audience for America’s 250th anniversary in 2026, but active participants in shaping how it’s understood, celebrated, and carried forward. Made By Us came to us with a clear goal: build a brand from the ground up that would resonate with Gen Z while still working across civic, educational, and national platforms. The identity needed to feel energizing, accessible, and future-forward, and it needed to do all of that without losing the credibility and seriousness the moment demands.
Beyond the brand itself, the campaign needed an end-to-end media operation: creators who could carry the message into Gen Z communities, broadcast partnerships that placed Youth250 in front of national audiences, and a documentation engine that could capture the campaign’s biggest moments and turn them into ongoing storytelling.
The Gallery
The Work
Brand identity from the ground up
We developed Youth250's brand identity to feel bold and exciting to interact with, while remaining flexible enough to live across social, print, and event materials. Every element of the system was designed to balance the cultural fluency Gen Z expects with the institutional credibility a national civic milestone requires.
Built for social, scaled for print
The brand is designed to capture attention on social media first, where Gen Z audiences live, while scaling seamlessly into print and large-format applications for in-person events, educational settings, and partner activations across Made By Us's national network.
Creator relationships and influencer coordination
We coordinated media relationships with creators to extend Youth250's reach into the Gen Z communities best positioned to carry the campaign's message forward, building partnerships designed to translate civic engagement into the formats and platforms young audiences actually live on.
Media and press coordination
We led media partnership development for the campaign, including the partnership with C-SPAN that aired Youth250's Our Declaration event in February 2026. The campaign has also secured coverage and partnerships with outlets including Teen Vogue, the Washington Post, and the Associated Press.
Full documentation team
We provided a full documentation team for Youth250's signature activation held at the National Constitution Center made possible through on-the-ground storytelling for use across media partners, social channels, and Youth250's owned platforms.
Original video series and content production
We developed and produced original video series and content for Youth250, building a sustained content engine designed to elevate youth voices and drive engagement across the campaign's full run-up to July 4, 2026.
The Results
A cohesive visual identity built for nationwide participation.
Youth250 now has a cohesive visual identity that supports engagement, storytelling, and nationwide participation in the lead-up to America’s 250th anniversary, giving Made By Us a brand system designed to scale across every platform and partner the campaign will touch.
National media reach across broadcast and print.
Youth250 has secured high-profile national coverage and partnerships across C-SPAN and dozens of other local and national publications, embedding the campaign in the outlets shaping the national conversation around America’s 250th.
A media operation built to scale through July 4, 2026.
With brand identity, creator relationships, broadcast partnerships, documentation infrastructure, and original content production all running in lockstep, Youth250 enters the final stretch before America’s 250th with the full media operation needed to keep youth voices at the center of one of the country’s biggest civic moments.