2024 Winner

CASE SUMMARY

There were just two elements to the sky-blue Kids Help Phone (KHP) logo: a smiling speech bubble and the name ‘kids help phone.’

The organization, which was born in 1989 as a phone line with a singular mission — to ensure no young person in Canada was alone in their time of need, has since evolved to mitigate the fact that 1 -in -2 youth struggle with their mental
health alone in Canada.

And now, despite its name, it serves ages 5 - 29, in multiple languages with services including phone, text, chat, web resources, and a peer-to-peer forum.

But the organization’s logo painted an inaccurate picture of the emotional state of its typical service user and an outdated description of its service offering. So, it was hard to imagine that a kid at their brink would look at this brand expression and see KHP for what it is — a (sometimes literal) lifeline.

Someone like you.

Brand health tracking and youth interviews uncovered two barriers to emotional connection to the brand. The first was that many youths didn’t consider their problems “big enough or bad enough” to ask for help with. The second was that they didn’t think that KHP was for “kids like me” — meaning from
their unique background.

So, it was imperative that the new identity communicated to youth that no moment of crisis or need is too big or too small for KHP and showed youth that KHP understands them and the experiences and problems of their contemporary world.

They had to reinvigorate the brand’s identity to make it as relevant to
youth as the organization itself.

Everyone everywhere all at once.

Not only did the new identity have to speak to a wide range of youth of different backgrounds and abilities, it also needed to be flexible enough to accommodate all their feelings — big, small, sad, joyful, and everything in between. So, instead of boxing KHP into a single design or colour, they turned the challenge of ‘being everything for everyone’ into a celebration of diversity and youth’s unique feelings.

To make the KHP brand identity relevant to youth today and reintroduce them to a brand they could continue to trust, they took inspiration from the heart of what they do: Help. From worries about climate change to band breakups, KHP helps with all matters, big or small. And hence, Help In All Sizes was born — a modular design system that can flex to fit any feeling or space, with English and French iterations. The new brand identity also features a spectrum of AODA — compliant colors that underline the theme of inclusivity behind the idea.

Flexing with all the feels.

‘Help In All Sizes’ is a flexible design system with room for all youth and all their feelings. Bold and youthful, the identity is representative of those KHP serves and their ambition to break down mental health barriers for a world where all youth feel safe and comfortable to express themselves and access help, no matter how big or small their problems.

Because youth isn’t one size fits all. And neither are we.

Help In All Sizes

To keep the focus on what they do (‘Help’), they utilized the “H” for “Help” as a design element that reinforces the concept of ‘Help In All Sizes’. A modular logo that stretches and shrinks to fit any channel, emotion, or tool demonstrates the extensive service offering. As the organization is no longer just a phoneline for kids, they turned KHP into a brandmark to house the organization’s name, paving the way to eventually remove the wordmark entirely. A colourful palette of 14+ hues was chosen to maintain flexibility when talking about diverse feelings and experiences. The ’H frame’ from the brandmark acts as a window into youth’s worlds — framing moments where they can see themselves reflected in the brand.

The new identity lives across all KHP and partner touchpoints, including their website, social, OOH, direct, digital, merch and ambient spaces.

Hope loading.

The new visual identity increased KHP’s relevance to youth by addressing two key objectives.The belief that KHP is there for any moment of crisis or need, big or small increased. The first objective being the belief that this happened within two key audience segments, Indigenous and rural youth, by 14 - and 4 -points, respectively.

Secondly the belief that KHP understands youth and their unique, contemporary experiences and problems increased and that KHP understands and is relevant to diverse youth rose by 11 points, and that youth can talk to KHP about
anything by 4-points.

Finally, the belief that KHP understands youth rose by 6 points in youth overall and by 16 points amongst Black youth.

Credits

McCann Canada

Josh Stein, Chief Creative Officer
Gail Pak, VP Creative Director
Mike Shuman, Creative Director
Athina Lalljee, Associate Creative Director
Jayme Fairbridge, Senior Art Director
Rasna Jaswal, Design Director
Mitchell Houlahan, Designer
AJ Jones, Chief Strategy Officer
Josh Hansen, VP Strategy
Alexandra Montgomery, Strategist
Emily MacLaurin-King, VP Group Account Director
Aaron D’Souza, Account Director
Jacqueline Bellmore, VP Director of Production
Eastern Yoo, Senior Producer
Kelsey Irvine, Freelance Producer

Cooper Films

James Cooper, Videographer

Craft New York

Karen Hennegan, Director Video Post Production
Sara May, Post Production Coordinator
Steven Tozzi, Graphics Creative Director
Nathan Thompson, Senior Editor
John Gerardi, Editor
Rebekah Haug, Animator
Anthony Subervi, Junior Animator
Nick MacDonald, Senior Audio Engineer

Craft Toronto

Kristina Loschiavo, Post Production Producer
Nigil Vazquez, Editor & Motion Graphics Animator
Jesse Gayle, Editor

Nice Shoes

Valeriya Myronenko, Producer
Stefan Woronko, Creative Director