'The Book That Grew'
'The Book That Grew'

Rothco, Part of Accenture interactive, has scooped up a coveted Graphite Pencil at D&AD Awards 2020 in the typography category for ‘The Book That Grew’. A D&AD Graphite Pencil is awarded to stand-out work, beautifully executed with an original and inspiring idea at its core. This Pencil marks the third year running in which Rothco has picked up awards at the show.

In 2017, Allied Irish Bank (AIB) partnered with Teagasc (Ireland’s Agriculture and Food Development Authority) to launch a multi-year campaign to increase grass utilisation on Irish livestock farms. As part of the ongoing campaign, AIB partnered with Rothco in 2019 to deliver the most up to date guide for efficiency and sustainability in farming by changing the way farmers see the country’s greatest resource - grass. This campaign was ‘The Book That Grew’.

The Perfect 10
The Perfect 10

The book was grown from the very grass that Irish farmers nurture - where each word, each diagram, and even the pages themselves were shaped by real grass roots. The book itself contains 10 tangible lessons and 10 pieces of practical advice designed to help maximise sustainability and increase profitability. These 10 steps enable farmers to achieve a ‘perfect’ 10 rotations of grass grazing per year, and produce 10 tonnes of grass per hectare – a truly powerful number that greatly improves the sustainability of even the most efficient farm. These lessons shaped into the pages of a book were created by bespoke plates that were used to manipulate the growth of the roots into legible shapes.

“We need to keep pinching ourselves," said Alan Kelly, Chief Creative Officer at Rothco, "this is the third year in a row we’ve won at D&AD and that is an achievement we are incredibly proud of. And if we keep creating work that engages the world for our clients – then hopefully we’ll make it four-in-a-row next year. In normal times we would be in the pub celebrating with the AIB gang right now, instead, from a socially acceptable distance, we’ll raise a glass to them…or two…three max.”