Last spring, junior advertising major Brandon Mai approached professor Deb Morrison with an idea. Uninspired by the other ad groups on campus, Mai wanted to form a smaller, more personal group that focused less on brands and more on humanity.
Encouraged by Morrison’s enthusiasm, Mai and now University of Oregon graduate Madeline Lambie formed Tortoise.
The name was inspired by the classic story of “The Tortoise and the Hare” but not in the cliche sense that slow and steady wins the race. It is about the Tortoise’s determination as he challenges the Hare to a race he’s most likely going to lose but ends up winning because he has more drive than the Hare.
Mai compared the Tortoise with how he feels about his career path and wanted to form a group of similar-minded people. Knowing he wanted to keep the group small, Mai and Lambie began first by recruiting friends they knew would work well with and have the same intrinsic motivation as themselves. This is how Ruby Lambie, sophomore digital arts major and sister of Madeline, got involved.
Despite not being an advertising major, Ruby was encouraged by the concept of promoting humanity.
“We look at what do the people need as opposed to what product can we make to solve a problem that isn’t there,” Ruby said. “So let’s take the problems that are here already and solve them.”
After recruiting friends, Mai expanded a little and recruited before some advertising classes. By the end of spring term the group was formed. After Madeline’s graduation, the final number was six. With only a few weeks left in the term the group decided to postpone a first project until the fall.
The first project was displayed in the EMU Amphitheater from Nov. 11-15. “One hundred of us” consisted of 100 Polaroids of different students on campus. Each student was given the opportunity to answer two questions: “What words do you need to hear most and from whom?” and “What do you need to say most and to whom?”
Mai explained that the purpose of asking questions that specifically target a vulnerability is to show that everyone has a story and to remind people of others’ humanity.
“I think when you understand that someone else is going through something and that anyone can be going through something, you kind of interact with others differently,” Mai said. “I think that’s really important. No matter who you are, you understand that people are going through things in their lives.”
Tortoise aims to complete a project each term. They have not began working on the next project, but the overall theme should be something similar to “One hundred of us” — producing something that has the ability to impact even just one person and show that people have stories.
“I love that kind of thinking. That’s beautiful,” Morrison said in regards to the messages Tortoise aims to create. “Truly great creatives want to inhabit and push the sense of connection that people have. I’m proud of them. I think it’s very cool what they’re doing.”