Rowan’s Law Campaign for the Government of Ontario by Rethink

This campaign raises awareness about concussions and promotes Rowan’s Law, a concussion protocol legislation, named after Rowan Stringer, a teenage rugby player, who passed away after sustaining multiple concussions.

 

Credits

Executive Creative Directors: Ian Grais RGD, Chris Staples

Creative Directors: Christina Yu, Mike Dubrick, Aaron Starkman

Art Director: Zachary Bautista

Designer: Jake Lim

Writer: Andrew Chhour

Strategists: Sean McDonald, Zach Simbrow

Broadcast Producer: Heather Blom

Production Company: Scouts Honour

Director: Mark Zibert

Editor: Graham Chisholm

Assistant Editor: Shauna Dowie

Director of Photography: Mark Zibert

Line Producer: Rita Popielak

Casting: Jigsaw Casting Ltd.

Casting Director: Shasta Lutz

Offline Post Production House: Married to Giants

On-line: The Vanity, Sean Cochrane

Grading: Alter Ego, Wade Odlum

Audio House: Grayson Matthews

Executive Producer: Kelly McCluskey

Account Services: Sarah Riedlinger, Megan Christopher

 
 

This campaign raises awareness about concussions and promotes Rowan’s Law, a concussion protocol legislation, named after Rowan Stringer, a teenage rugby player, who passed away after sustaining multiple concussions. Rethink worked with Dr. Charles Tator, a renowned neurologist and expert on concussion, to create a brand icon. The icon resembles a stop sign, divided in half to represent the two sides of the human brain. Rethink also created a series of photography-based posters showcasing the playing field lines for the three sports played most commonly in Ontario and even released a film. The logo has been adopted by various school boards and leagues.“Rowan’s Law” became the #1 searched term on Google Canada with high-profile sports figures, including Ron MacLean, Cassie Campbell and Nick Kypreos tweeting about the campaign.

 

Judge's Pick

This campaign really moved me. I don’t play contact sports, am not involved in sports as a coach, teacher or parent and yet I found myself heading straight to the website to find out more so I could help spread the word. A great deal of thought and research was put into the logo, colours and simple, clear messaging. The technique of mimicking the marketing of sports brands was impressive. It’s difficult to watch and yet it’s not negative. You come out of it feeling empowered to make meaningful changes in society’s perception of concussions and competitiveness in sports as a whole. An excellent example of impactful design used to communicate very powerful messages. Well done!

   — Karen Marshall RGD, Senior Graphic Designer for The Regional Municipality of York

 

This campaign is bold, direct and has the right amount of emotions to drive home awareness around the seriousness of a concussion, its symptoms and treatments. The execution is clean, simple and flexible from showcasing the symptoms in the icon to the subtle visuals and audio sounds in the digital and printed products. These products effectively reached target audiences and the analytics showcase the success and creativity of this campaign.

   — Adele Bisaillon, Senior Creative Communications Advisor for the Government of the Northwest Territories
Archive