Getting back together
The Reconnect programme is designed to get Kent’s children and young people thriving following covid.
Getting back together
Reconnect is a Kent County Council led, community based programme designed to get Kent’s children and young people thriving following the pandemic.
Reconnect Kent
Branding
Digital marketing
Print marketing
Visual identity system
Print marketing
Kent County Council, the UK’s largest local authority, realised they needed a way to help Children and Young People in Kent get back together after the Covid pandemic. Kent County Council needed a campaign, a vehicle if you like to engage a range of local businesses and charities across Kent to help provide opportunities for children and young people to come together to enjoy a range of activities.
The Challenge
The Covid pandemic had a devastating impact on all areas of society none more so than on children and young people.
For children and young people, that meant, a loss of time at school, unable to meet friends and build relationships, and generally being cut off from doing the things children should be doing every day as they grow and learn.
The results of not acting would have been detrimental to the vast population of Kent’s children and young people.
Already alienated and confused by what was happening, having to go back to a ‘normal’ would have been even more of a challenge. This campaign was the bridge back to that ‘normal’.
The plan
Anecdote’s brief for this project was to come up with what the campaign would look like. We had a blank piece of paper as such, which for us, was a great opportunity.
KCC’s internal creative team came up with the logo which we then incorporated into the campaign concept.
We had 5 campaign pillars to work to:- Health & happiness, Sports, activities and the outdoors, Learning missed, Economic well-being, Friends, family & community.
These pillars brought structure to the campaign and allowed us to create a visual expression for each pillar allowing for clear lines of communication, this was all laid out and explained in a comprehensive set of campaign guidelines we created for Kent County Council.
Kent County Council had created a youth steering group for the campaign and they would decide on the direction of the creative, no pressure there then.
As the campaign was aimed at a wide audience encompassing children and young people, we wanted to create a visual style that was neither too childish nor too grown up, which was challenging!
Bright colours, positive vibes, and lots of energy were where we headed.
The idea we came up with was ‘Social Impact’, creating a concept that generated maximum visual impact, it could not be missed.
It exudes positive energy and enthusiasm for the campaign’s life cycle, heroing Kent children and young people and the benefits of what would be on offer.
We created a range of brand campaign assets from a set of Emoji’s to promote a variety of activities to bold typography and positive audience lead photography.
These assets could be animated for social or bigger animated video presentations, adding another dimension to the creative.
The results
The Reconnect Programme has helped thousands of children and young people across Kent to get back to the things they enjoyed doing before the pandemic.
A few of the key highlights have been free leisure centre passes for young families across Kent.
Free bus passes for families and young people, which was a major success as it gave people the opportunity to get to events and clubs.
Reconnect festivals across Kent and a whole host of other activities and events which would never have existed without Kent County Council taking the bold decision to invest in the campaign.
It was the only UK County Council to deliver such a campaign at scale post-pandemic.
We are very happy with the work Anecdote has done for the Reconnect Campaign. It was a 2-year campaign and engagement grew throughout.
Deborah Farrell, Reconnect Programme Communications Officer, Kent County Council
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