Connect / How a Portland sauna and cold plunge spa grew into a nature-guided, community-driven healing brand, making wellness accessible, inclusive, and fun.

Green welcome sign with a clover symbol and text that says 'Check in ahead. We're so glad you came!' placed on a wooden stand outside a building.
Green welcome sign with a clover symbol and text that says 'Check in ahead. We're so glad you came!' placed on a wooden stand outside a building.
A green pamphlet titled 'Ancient Healing for modern feelings' with partial text visible, attached to a paperclip.
A green pamphlet titled 'Ancient Healing for modern feelings' with partial text visible, attached to a paperclip.
Collection of social media posts promoting wellness, featuring images of a man in a sauna drinking water, a dog by the ocean, a woman relaxing with a laptop, and various motivational messages about connecting with nature and self-care.
Collection of social media posts promoting wellness, featuring images of a man in a sauna drinking water, a dog by the ocean, a woman relaxing with a laptop, and various motivational messages about connecting with nature and self-care.
A green towel with a label that says 'Peace & Quiet Awaits,' lying on a textured brown towel on a wooden surface.
A green towel with a label that says 'Peace & Quiet Awaits,' lying on a textured brown towel on a wooden surface.
A green environmental awareness bag hanging on a tree branch among green leaves.
A green environmental awareness bag hanging on a tree branch among green leaves.
A green soap bar with the word 'connect' embossed on it, standing upright with a shadow cast on the surface below.
A green soap bar with the word 'connect' embossed on it, standing upright with a shadow cast on the surface below.
Green business card and paper slot with the word 'connect' on a wooden shelf.
Green business card and paper slot with the word 'connect' on a wooden shelf.
A group of gray rocks floating in midair against a blurry green and gray background.
A group of gray rocks floating in midair against a blurry green and gray background.
A person with long dark hair is placing their left hand on a green poster board that says 'connect' and 'Entering Technology Free Zone' with a drawing of a happy, steaming bowl of food.
A person with long dark hair is placing their left hand on a green poster board that says 'connect' and 'Entering Technology Free Zone' with a drawing of a happy, steaming bowl of food.
A clear reusable water bottle with a green label and lid, labeled 'Oxygen,' is outdoors surrounded by green foliage.
A clear reusable water bottle with a green label and lid, labeled 'Oxygen,' is outdoors surrounded by green foliage.
Close-up of a green soap bottle with white label text reading 'Soap for Gray Areas', placed on a wooden surface with wooden walls in the background.
Close-up of a green soap bottle with white label text reading 'Soap for Gray Areas', placed on a wooden surface with wooden walls in the background.
Signboard titled 'Sauna Hat Fun Facts' with a simple outline of a sauna hat and some text below explaining its benefits, placed on a slatted wooden surface.
Signboard titled 'Sauna Hat Fun Facts' with a simple outline of a sauna hat and some text below explaining its benefits, placed on a slatted wooden surface.

Project Information

Stage

Early

Industry

Health & Wellness
Hospitality

Services

Brand Sprint

Impact Points

Accessible wellness
Sustainable spaces

  • As a B Corp, Odd Notion only partners with founders building products that benefit people and planet. We sort that commitment into three tiers:

    • Measured impact — brands with verified, certified outcomes, like a fellow B Corp.

    • Unmeasured impact — brands doing real good that haven't yet quantified it.

    • Do no harm — brands we're proud to build because of how they operate.

    Connect Wellness sits in our unmeasured-impact tier, with impact on two tracks. Socially, its mission is to make mental, spiritual, and physical healing more accessible and inclusive — lowering the cost and intimidation barriers to wellness and building community around shared, tech-free experiences. Environmentally, its spaces are built largely from repurposed and recycled materials, reducing waste while giving each location its own character. The good is core to how Connect operates; it simply hasn't been formally measured yet.

Situation

Connect Wellness is a Portland-based sauna and cold plunge spa — a tech-free, outdoor healing space built on traditional contrast therapy. Its mission is to make mental, spiritual, and physical healing more accessible, creating room for people to connect with themselves, nature, and one another. With plans to grow beyond its first location and open more spas across the region, Connect needed a voice and identity system that could scale — as grounded and inviting as the experience itself, and strong enough to carry a young brand into new markets.

Problem

In the market, Connect was known mostly for sauna and cold plunge, and little else. But the deeper challenge was the category itself. Spas tend to be exclusive by default — marketed with images of "perfect bodies," priced beyond what most people can justify, and built for quiet seclusion. That leaves a lot of people feeling like wellness simply isn't for them. Connect is the opposite on every count: a neighborhood spa in the suburbs, priced and designed to welcome everyday people. The job was to reposition it as genuinely accessible, inclusive, and community-focused — established enough to grow to new locations — without losing the down-to-earth warmth that makes it different.

Solution

We built Connect's brand around The Connect Method — its philosophy for healing humans: nature is our guide, fun is our way, hot and cold therapy are the instruments, and relationships are the key. Working from an Everyman/Innocent archetype, we gave the brand a voice that's optimistic, inclusive, and savvy, and repositioned it from a two-service spa into a holistic, community-driven healing space built on contrast therapy — natural and fun, ready to grow. We leaned into what genuinely sets Connect apart: as one of the only outdoor spas in the region, nature isn't a backdrop, it's the whole experience — so we grounded the identity in the natural world and play, developing a mascot that evokes nature with real joy. And where most spas invite silence and seclusion, Connect invites connection — not just with nature and yourself, but with others, built on the belief that the best conversations often happen in solace and in nature.

Credits

Strategy: Eleazar Ruiz
Creative Direction: Eleazar Ruiz
Graphic Design: Eleazar Ruiz
Tone & Voice: Alexa Sibberson
Illustration: Pip Craighead

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