RGD Creative Earners

Integrated Award — Branding Program & Campaign

Creative Currency

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

The RGD’s Creative Earners salary survey is an initiative that collects, analyzes and reports on career data from professionals across the Canadian creative industry. With a national audience spanning all career stages and disciplines, the project needed to communicate the value of the data while encouraging survey participation through a creative, engaging experience. Creative Currency’s design direction coalesced around the theme of “Leave Your Mark”—a nod to self-expression, transparency and identity. The resulting creative concept revolved around customizable thumbprint characters—each one a playful symbol of the unique individuals that make up our industry. These characters could be personalized through an interactive builder that let participants mix professional roles (e.g., UX designer, art director) with fun traits (e.g., caffeinated, nocturnal, plant parent).

In this way, Creative Currency turned survey participation into a game-like experience with a creative takeaway at the end: your very own avatar. The campaign repositioned Creative Earners not only as a survey, but also as a celebration. It made salary transparency shareable, brought design professionals together and reminded participants that data is most powerful when it reflects who we really are.