As Ontario entered its first wave of the COVID-19 virus in Spring 2020, the Government of Ontario required a new public health campaign to quickly reach as many people in Ontario as possible with information about the new stay-at-home order and physical distancing guidelines. A flexible visual system with an established colour palette, library of icons and pre-made templates helped facilitate clear, accessible messaging that could be easily understood across different ages and cultural groups. To combat sources of misinformation, the campaign was tied to the Ontario brand to make it easily recognizable as an official source of valid information. Illustrations with subtle human touches like unique hairstyles, clothing and accessories helped balance the serious tone of the message to help the campaign remain reassuring, friendly and hopeful. The campaign exceeded performance expectations, achieving outstanding impressions across all channels, and was adopted by the federal government for the roll-out of the COVID-19 Alert App.

CREDITS:

LEAD: ASHLEY CAMPBELL

DESIGNERS: DAN LAM, TIMOTHY SINGLETON, LAURA SULLIVAN, MICHAEL J. YOUNG RGD

STRATEGY LEADS: SABINE EDWARDS, ELIZABETH ERKAYA, RYAN HUBER

STRATEGY/CONTENT: LINDA ANGELAKIS, TANIA FIORINO, KARINA DE FREITAS, KRISTEN POLITO, MARYSIA SYMCZAK, KAREY TEMPLETON, KELLY ZIELENSKI, PAOLO ZINATELLI