In Chile each year, more than 100,000 children suffer burn injuries, with the large majority of them under 5 years of age. COANIQUEM, a private non-profit institution in South America, works to lead progressive research and bring medical attention, restoration healing and comprehensive rehabilitation to 8,000 children per year who are most seriously afflicted with burn injuries. A multi-disciplinary team of students, led by a faculty member from the Graphic Design Department at Art Center College of Design, worked together to creat an effective and powerful campaign targeted to a global audience, specifically aiming to bring about change in 6 Central American countries.

      Students were challenged to create 2 separate campaigns, one that could reach out to American donors, and a separate one to reach out to the children of Central American countries and empower them with the knowledge of the danger of hot objects. A mascot created for the campaign, named Santi (short for Santiago) is a powerfully charged symbol of safety and recognizability for COANIQUEM. A series of illustrated educational books were created featuring Santi, in which he explores with children "hot objects" not to touch. The full campaign for children consists of the books, a simple motion graphic piece, activity books, a contagiously fun song written especially for Santi and COANIQUEM, and promotional plush Santi dolls.

 

 

Santi the Mascot

Sant the cat is the new mascot of COANIQUEM. He is here to appeal to all children, playing a cuddly role as both a friend and, eventually, teacher. He is inspired by the ocelot, an animal commonly found in South America.

      First, Santi appears through five stories created to educate children on the dangers of hot objects. Curious and silly, Santi initially makes dangerous mistakes (trying to touch hot objects), empowering children by prompting them to help Santi avoid these dangers by saying "Caliente!" (hot!). Eventually, Santi grows and becomes a protector of children.

The Campaigns

 

Two Campaigns were intended as the main deliverable, one that would address American donors and another that would be launched in all of Central America to bring awareness to the 5 main causes of burns in children and how to prevent them.
     Capaign Esperanza, meaning "hope," was created for American donors, informing them that COANIQUEM provides free and comprehensive rehabilitation to children burn victims. With donations, COANIQUEM can continue to help kids 18 and under rehabilitate, and support scientific research to improve the long-term treatement of children with burns.
     The Caliente Campaign, meaning "hot," was created to help adults and children of Central America become more cautious and aware of fire safety by addressing the top causes of burns in the home. Caliente materials fature Santi the mascot showing children simple measures to stay safe from burns as well as children helping Santi to recognize items that are "¡CALIENTE!"

The Books

 

A key compnent of the Santi/Caliente campaign are a series of books created to address the 5 main causes of burns in children: hot liquids, fireworks, hot objects, electricity, and open fire. Each story features Santi growing curious with one of the "hot" objects, just as children would. The narratives all feature the children "heroes" of the story helping Santi learn to stay away and avoid "¡CALIENTE!" objects. By repeating this narrative as a theme of the book series, the viewer—the child— is empowered with the knowledge of burn prevention and safety information. Together with the children in the stories, they can learn how to save Santi, and themselves, from getting burned in the 5 most common household scenarios.

 

Titles:

Santi y El Fuego

Santi Y el Té

Santi y La Electricidad

Santi y Los Fuegos Artificiales

Santi y La Plancha (shown below)

 

 

Santi Dolls
 
A Santi doll was designed creating a tactile connection with the character and children, reinforcing the brand image and bringing new opportunities for additional interactions with the mascot.

 

 

#findsanti

The Santi dolls created soon became the central piece of the conceived social media campaign. #findsanti is an Instagram based campaign, launched by the students themselves, where they each took and posted pictures of a Santi doll posing in various locations in their daily life. The is for Sant dolls in the hands of children all over the world to also post their pictures of Santi with the hashtag #findsanti, creating a buzzing community of awareness of COANIQUEM's new macot.
     When pictures of Santi quickly swarm the news feeds of student's Facebooks, the mascot began to catch the attention of many outside of the class. One of which commenting, "what is this? I've seen this before!" #findsanti was an early success.

 

 

Donors Outreach

 

A new booklet was designed for donors with a bold message: "This is not for everyone." By telling the truth, "It takes a special person to help a burned child," the new messaging solved many previous communication problems while inticing a through-provoking challenge in the donor's mind. The team also designed a brooch—a symbol of recognition for donors.

Special Events

 

A series of strategic special event concepts were developed around Santi. School vists, "Santi Day," etc. We imagined that the mascot could become life-size and interact with children as a real-life brand ambassador.