How we invented a better way to prepare children for kindergarten.

At the beginning of 2018, the KC Chamber approached BR for help with a big problem. 1 in 3 children starting kindergarten weren’t prepared – setting themselves, and our city, up for a lifetime of hardship. Because helping children has always been a priority for BR, we were determined to assist in finding a solution.

First, we created and named the organization that would serve as a resource for early education throughout Kansas City. And then we created the logo design.

Because the Kansas City community was completely unaware of the problem, we created an awareness campaign to wake the city up to it. Simple visuals on outdoor boards and print ads brought the disheartening statistic to life. Radio and streaming audio surprised listeners with altered words to well-known nursery rhymes.

And a PSA teamed up two unlikely friends to urge the community into action.

But in order to have the impact we wanted, we knew we needed to face the problem head on. So we created an integrated campaign targeting the city’s most important early educators: parents.

The idea: transform everyday locations around Kansas City into simple learning moments.

With the help of a couple good friends, we got parents of young children to see Kansas City as one giant pre-school.

Outdoor boards designed to specific locations across the city pointed out the simple lessons all around that we as adults often overlook.

Print ads provided inspiration for learning in specific locations across the city.

We made a game out of finding learning moments around the city with an illustrated poster distributed to parents and local businesses. It contained 10 simple challenges to be completed at locations around the city.

As children completed each of the challenges, they colored in the associated portion of the poster. So that after completing all of them, they had a unique piece of art all their own.

And parents had something to brag about.