Some futures havebeen buffering

Art direction

Campaign for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Ottawa

The catch

We met the client that morning. The pitch was due the next day.

Boot Camp is a 24-hour challenge where teams compete without knowing who the client is. We found out it was Big Brothers Big Sisters of Ottawa that morning, then had until the next day to research, strategize, create, and present a full campaign.

The constraint was the point: how good can your thinking get when there’s no time to overthink?

(Pretty good, it turns out. We won.)

Four young people, faces pixelated under yellow buffering wheels, beside the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Ottawa logo.

The ask

Build a base of monthly donors. Not a one-time spike.

Not one-off gifts. Not event donations. Consistent, monthly support that keeps mentorship running all year long.

In other words, they wanted something continuous.

So naturally, we started with everything that isn’t.

The thinking

What’s the opposite of continuous?

Interruption. And what interruption drives absolutely everyone insane? Lost connection. The video that buffers for three seconds and somehow ruins your whole evening.

So we made that maddening little wheel the metaphor. Because without consistent mentorship, some young people’s futures have been buffering for three seconds years.

My roleI art directed: led the visual strategy and steered how a backwards idea became something you could actually look at, across every touchpoint.

The answer

Their future is still loading.

One formula, every execution.

A young person doing what they love: cooking, painting, shooting hoops, making music. Their face pixelated, a buffering wheel spinning on top.

Their story isn’t over, it’s interrupted. Potential, on pause. And the fix is right there in the line: No one likes losing connection. Monthly donations keep it strong.

The medium

The spinning wheel lives on a screen. So the campaign did too.

Going fully digital was intentional, and not just because the client asked us to focus on social. Buffering is a screen-native frustration: you’re stuck waiting, annoyed, wanting it to just continue.

We wanted people to feel that loop, mid-scroll, and realize some kids in Ottawa are stuck in it. A monthly donation upgrades their connection, so their story doesn’t have to buffer indefinitely.

Three Instagram posts from @bbbsottawa: a young chef, a basketball player and a painter, each with a pixelated face and a buffering wheel.
Instagram story on a phone: a young coder with a pixelated face. “No one likes losing connection. Swipe up to become a monthly donor.”
Sponsored Facebook post on a desktop screen: “His beat shouldn’t skip.” A young musician with a pixelated face and a buffering wheel.

Connection restored.

  • BBBSO adopted it as their 2026 organizational theme.
  • It got called “hyper emotional” and “inescapable.” We’ll take both.
  • The client said it respected both their mission and their donors’ intelligence.
  • And the AC Blog wrote about it.

Team: Jenna Bastarache, Erica Tran, Lindsay Ott, Nick Parry and me.