Every winter, skiers and snowboarders of varying ages and skill levels take to the hills in Nova Scotia. They load up their car with equipment or come prepared to rent it. But amidst the skis, snowboards, poles, gloves, goggles and boots, some people will choose not to wear a helmet.
The Atlantic Collaboration on Injury Awareness (ACIP) approached Revolve to address this problem. Interestingly, the ACIP research told us that while some skiers and snowboarders think it’s normal to forgo a helmet, they’re actually in the minority. In reality, 75% of skiers and snowboarders wear a helmet.
We took this surprising statistic and came up with a fun, engaging way to address and involve skiers and snowboarders. Rather than admonishing people who don’t wear helmets, we chose to celebrate helmet wearers.
75% of skiers and snowboarders are wearing helmets, so 75% of skiers and snowboarders get helmet hair.
The campaign urges skiers and snowboarders show off their helmet hair and ‘Wear It Proud’ through posters and tent cards at all Nova Scotia ski hills (the natural habitat of our audience). Word of mouth spread quickly through the Facebook pages of Ski Martock, Wentworth and Ben Eoin.
To involve people in the message, we also created a contest that allows users to upload a photo of their helmet hair on Facebook for the chance to win the Grand Prize: a trip for 2 to Mont Tremblant. Secondary prizes are also up for grabs.
Street teams visited the hills on February 5 & 6 to take photos for the contest, give out swag and raise awareness for the campaign. The response was amazing. Over 250 skiers and snowboarders had their photos taken for the contest, and the ‘Wear It Proud’ fleece headbands were in high demand.
Helmet hair may be ugly, but it also acts as a badge of honor – it shows that someone has put time and sweat into their sport. By celebrating helmet hair, the campaign confronts non-helmet wearers with the new social norm and cues them to adopt helmets. Revolve is letting people know that real skiers and snowboarders wear their helmets (and helmet hair) proudly.