Zachary Bautista: Rising star at Rethink

Zachary Bautista is an Art Director at Rethink in Toronto  

An OCAD University alumni, prior to Rethink Zachary was at lg2 working on insurance brands. Prior to that he was at Grip working on car brands. Prior to that he was a janitor working on himself. He strongly believes dreams do come true. In a few short years Zachary’s work has been recognized by Cannes, D&AD, The Art Directors Club, Clios, Communication Arts, and Applied Arts, to name a few. 

At Rethink, Zachary has been busy on some high-profile campaigns for some big name brands, like Ikea's recent Bedtime campaign. Zachary was a recent speaker at Applied Arts' student event — which aims to inspire and inform the next generation of high-schoolers thinking about visual arts. He was so inspiring, we asked him to be a judge in our recent Student Awards. And when we asked him to send over a project to share with our readers, he sent one that shows he's truly a man with a passion for his work ... and clearly a rising star. 

Project: Ontario Government: ROWAN’S LAW 

We live in a culture that tells athletes to do whatever it takes to win. Especially sports marketing, with phrases like Risk it all. Sacrifice everything. All-in. But with1 in 5 high school athletes suffering a concussion every year, and with more than half of high school concussions going unreported, The Ontario Government set out to challenge the win-at-all-costs notion with the creation of a concussion protocol called “Rowan’s Law”. Since sports marketing campaigns have such a profound effect on attitudes, we launched it with a sports campaign of our own that took on existing conventions and stigmas. The message: 

Sorry for the spoiler, but chances are you may have seen this spot already, if not on your screen, then in an award-winners line-up ... including the just-released Applied Arts 2019 Advertising Awards (congrats, btw). The spot the Rethink team created feels like other sports campaigns — at first. Then the upbeat, beautifully-shot scene and catchy, edgy tune that lured you right in, takes you on an entirely different path and by the the last frame you feel exactly like the athlete in the spot. Powerful stuff. Take a watch. 

Creative Directors: Christina Yu, Mike Dubrick 

Art Director: Zachary Bautista

Writer: Andrew Chhour

Designer: Jake Lim

zacharybautista.ca