Getting the attention of students is challenging. Especially in a place they’d rather not be and about a subject they’d rather not discuss. So by getting students to engage with a poster was going to be a challenge.

Knowing this, we asked students to “shed some light on what really matters” which invited them to interact with the poster using the flash on their smartphone, ensuring our message would not only be seen but easily shared through social media as well.

Using a reflective vinyl material composed of millions of microscopic glass beads with a metalized back, we were able to create a reflective surface that allowed our hidden message to appear with the flash of a cell phone camera. Any area of the stock that reflected the camera's flash would suddenly appear in the photo.

Flatbed inkjet technology allowed us to print on this reflective material. Ink that covered the reflective substrate would print normally, while areas left with the raw reflective material showing through would illuminate when a photo was taken with the flash.

On March 1, 2016 the posters were hung in more than 35 Toronto schools and were seen by more than 75,000 students. Using the hashtag #WhatMatters, our message was spread even further.

More than 75,000 students saw these posters hanging in their school hallways and in their classrooms. The posters were picked up by international news outlets such as Gizmodo and AdWeek, as local industry publications such as Marketing Magazine and Strategy Magazine. There was widespread adoption of the hashtag #WhatMatters - expanding our media footprint and allowing us to reach new audiences on social media. This garnered the attention of school boards and administrations across the nation who started asking for our posters by name.

The posters ran in school hallways across Toronto District Schools. Knowing school hallways are a difficult place for students who are deemed different, we decided to put our message in the very environment they are often bullied. This was important in order to intercept this negative behavior.

With a 10K budget, we wanted to send a positive message to the 75,000 Toronto District School students that we are all more than just our gender identity and sexual orientation. At the same time, we wanted to get them talking about the labels we place on members of the LGBT community.