STARS Canada Saves Futures in Emotional Campaign

For 40 years, STARS and its helicopter teams have been bringing ICU-level care to remote locations throughout Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. The missions have saved thousands of lives and given people a future that they may have otherwise lost.

Rethink shares a new spot with STARS that shows the impact of its work with an emotional story. The spot follows the story, played in reverse, of a boy throughout different life moments - like his graduation, his first kiss, losing his first tooth - until we arrive at a pivotal moment where he almost lost his life and the future that lay ahead of him.

To show how the life-saving work of STARS is directly tied to the boy’s life, wind blows unexpectedly throughout each scene, and music transforms into the sound of a helicopter rotor. Only when we arrive at the rescue scene do we learn that the STARS helicopter is the source of the wind.

The idea behind the spot came from different true stories of people whose lives had been saved by STARS - as many of those rescued described STARS critical care intervention as giving them “a second chance at life”. But there was one story in particular that was key to this work.

“When we visited the STARS Alberta base, one of the paramedics told us the story of a young boy who almost drowned but was rescued by the paramedic and his team,” said Grace Cho, creative director, Rethink. “It was such a powerful moment, we all got teary-eyed and knew that that’s the story we should tell - the future that this boy has ahead of him thanks to STARS.”

To bring this story to life, STARS and Rethink worked with Fela and one of their talented directors, Adrian Villagomez, who is primarily known for his music videos with artists such as Denzel Curry, Killer Mike, and Apashe - a long time collaborator who oversaw the music composition for the spot.

“We knew that we wanted to approach this in a way that felt different than how you’d expect this story to be told,” says Don Shelford, executive creative director at Rethink. “And we’re so lucky to have been able to work with our STARS clients who put so much trust and faith in our team and Adrian’s, to create such an impactful spot.”

"We wanted to take an approach we hadn't seen before at STARS,” explains Tiffany Flynn, vice president at STARS. “We knew working with the Rethink team would get us there. And the moment we saw the work and shared it with our team, we knew we were making a major impact - we wanted to show the emotional side of what we do at STARS, and we absolutely achieved that. This is a reminder that what we do every day, every mission, is not just saving lives - it really is saving futures."

Rethink led the campaign on strategy and creative, and Epitaph on media. The spot went live on May 6th with a 45s OLV, a 30s for TV, and a 15s cut down.