Illinois Cares for Kids and the Illinois Governor’s Office came to us with an ambitious ask and a meaningful mission: Create a statewide campaign — in both English and Spanish — to increase early childhood enrollment and use of the variety of resources, funding and support available through Illinois Cares for Kids.

We developed a multi-channel, awareness-driving campaign to build trust among Illinois parents and families in need with emotional, celebratory storytelling, using a :30 animated video as the centerpiece for our campaign.

Our guideposts for the campaign:

• Be authentically Illinois, using local artists and production partners
• Appeal to adults without ignoring children
• Highlight key ICFK offerings (ie, home visiting) without being overwhelming
• Remain relevant regardless of mask mandate status
• Be as safe as possible to produce during a Covid spike
• Encourage and excite our audience to participate in state programming

After an extensive search conducted alongside our music production partner, Squeak E. Clean, we discovered “I Got Love”—a catchy tune with joyful lyrics originally performed by music legend and former Chicago resident Nat King Cole.

In partnership with award-winning motion graphics studio Sarofsky, we vetted a wide range of illustrators and muralists before landing on the colorful characters of Chicago-based toy maker and artist Shawn Smith.