In today’s fast-paced world, where technology and innovation constantly shape our lives, it’s disheartening to see that traditional product branding often overlooks the needs of the 2.2 billion visually impaired individuals worldwide. Imagine the frustration of being unable to access essential information on product labels, risking incorrect dosages and feeling excluded from the broader conversation. Recognizing this challenge, Grey joined forces with Haleon, GSK’s consumer healthcare company, to introduce a groundbreaking solution – Access Codes.

Access Codes is not just a product innovation; it’s a commitment to inclusivity. Leveraging the power of barcodes on Haleon products, Grey, in collaboration with Microsoft’s Seeing AI app, transformed these barcodes into Access Codes. This revolutionary approach allows vital product information to be conveyed verbally, addressing the unique needs of individuals with visual impairments and ensuring equal access to healthcare information.

The journey toward accessible packaging didn’t stop there. Grey embraced an audio-first strategy, understanding that the target audience consumes information differently. By partnering with technology, healthcare, visually impaired lifestyle podcasts, influencers, and The Royal National Institute for the Blind (RNIB), Grey and Hill & Knowlton collaborated closely with Haleon to raise awareness about Access Codes.

A pivotal aspect of this campaign was the involvement of the visually impaired community, ensuring authenticity and resonance. The communications strategy included an original song, released on World Sight Day, and leveraged various audio platforms, including radio. To widen its reach, a visually impaired director collaborated on a music video, connecting with an even broader audience.

The impact of Access Codes has been nothing short of remarkable. Haleon’s brand trust now surpasses competitors, with 53% of consumers expressing a preference for the brand. Familiarity with Haleon has increased by 40%, making the brand synonymous with ‘making everyday health more accessible’ for a significantly larger audience.

The integration of Access Codes into the Seeing AI app has seen a tenfold increase in downloads, reaching an estimated 2.5 million people. The positive business outcomes for Haleon, reflected in its 2022 full-year report, include a 4.3% growth in price and a 4.7% growth in volume. Access Codes has not only generated over 547 million impressions but has also showcased its effectiveness, with 67% of these impressions being audio-based, illustrating its strong connection with the target audience.

In conclusion, Access Codes has not only broken barriers but has also set a new standard for inclusive and impactful product branding. It’s a testament to the power of collaboration, innovation, and a commitment to making healthcare information accessible to all.

Credits
Brand: Haleon
Advertising Agency: Grey, New York

This campaign is about: –
Healthcare, Visually Impaired, Product Branding, GSK Haleon, Innovative Barcodes, Microsoft AI, Grey, Inclusive Design, Healthcare Accessibility, Consumer Healthcare, Barcodes for the blind

The Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB) has been supporting the visually impaired community for over a hundred years. It focuses on true inclusivity, so when it came to the brand design relaunch, it was not enough to just create versions for sighted and visually impaired audiences. The challenge was to develop a brand identity that would be meaningful to all.

To focus on something that everyone experiences equally, a tactile brand identity was developed – a texture that tells the brand story through touch. Using raised-polymer printing, this texture is applied on all touchpoints, from handrails to posters and business cards.

Credits
Agency: Zerotrillion
Production Company: Makers, Toronto
Tags: Brand Design Relaunch, Branding, Public Interest Campaigns

Action Audio technology works by using the data from a ball monitoring computer vision system that analyses key moments from the game and plays them with a 3d Sound design system which brings the game to life.

Tennis Australia and Monash University have successfully been able to integrate new technology in the sports broadcast. This will very well promote the ‘Live sports for all’ motive. Broadcasters will soon employ this technology in the broadcast of other sports as well.

Facing Emotions, the app, developed with the Polish Blind Association, uses the rear camera of Huawei’s Mate 20 Pro phone to read the emotion on the face of whoever the blind user is talking to, by analysing their expression using artificial intelligence (AI).
An offline machine-learning algorithm integrated into the phone identifies the main facial features of the interlocutor, including eyebrows, eyes, nose and mouth. It can then determine the positions about each other and identify the particular emotion.

The app translates these seven universal human emotions – anger, fear, disgust, happiness, sadness, surprise and contempt – into seven distinct sounds. The detected emotion is played through the phone’s microphone.
Blind composer Tomasz Bilecki created the sounds corresponding to each emotion. “The sounds I wanted to create needed to be specific for each emotion, and not distract users from their conversations,” said Bilecki.

The team aimed to make each sound short, concise and simple, in the hope that they won’t feel invasive in a conversation between two people, as well as being recognisable and easy to recall. Blind users tested the app, and their insights were incorporated into the design.
“Sound samples were tested by our team of blind consultants, who rated them as easy to remember and understand,” said Huawei.

“The Facing Emotions campaign embodies Huawei’s mission to bring new technology to everyone, especially those that need it most,” said Huawei consumer business group president Wang Tao.

Credits
Agency Network: Publicis
Production Company: TANK
Advertiser Brand: Huawei

This campaign is about:
Facial Recognition, visually impaired, AI, Huawei Facing Emotions, Technology, Innovation, Camera, Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, Blind

India is home to 8 million blind people which is approximately one-fourth of the world’s blind population. While 75 percent of this blindness is preventable and could have been avoided, awareness around eye health and sensitization around eye donations becomes imperative.

The agency maximized various social media platforms to the core, ensuring that the message is perceived and received by as many as possible. Released during Diwali, the video garnered 2.1 Million views in only two days along with some well-known personalities like Bollywood actors Kabir Bedi and Aparshakti Khurana, Padmashri award-winning filmmaker Nila Madhab Panda and noted photographer Amit Pasricha creating a buzz about it on their social media pages.

Within a few days of launch, on Twitter, around 6102 tweets, 62 Mn Impressions and 2.12 Mn reach were recorded while on Facebook the campaign garnered 4,100,557 reach, 5,621,392 impressions and 2.1 million views. Content Marketing agency Social Catalyzers came on board as ‘Supporting Partners’ for the campaign.

RN Mohanty, CEO, Sightsavers India said, “The #GiftOfSight campaign is a powerful digital communication medium to draw attention towards the often ignored humane, social and economic cause of preventing avoidable blindness. Over 75 per cent of blindness is preventable which is primarily caused due to factors like cataract and refractive errors. The #GiftOfSight video adequately highlights how one of the biggest festivals in India—Diwali— ‘LOOKS’ like to a visually impaired person. We seek to drown the noise with this campaign and make Diwali truly a festival of light for many millions in the country.”

Rajiv Dingra, Founder and CEO, WATConsult said, “#GiftOfSight is an urge to people to gift a life. With growing need of desired corneas and lack of awareness about eye health, #GiftOfSight is a step to raise adequate awareness via a simple video that showcased how a festival of Diwali is for the visually impaired.”

#GiftOfSight is a disruptive black video that portrays the festival from a visually-impaired person’s perspective with a concoction of all kinds of sounds of noise and celebration that sums up Diwali for a blind person. The video urges the viewers to donate towards preventing blindness so that someday someone will be able to experience the festivities from their own eyes.

Comparing simple joys of witnessing colour, celebrations, fireworks and memories to what they would look like to blind people, the campaign focused on how giving a #GiftOfSight this year could bring light to someone’s Diwali.

This article is about:
WATConsult, Rajiv Dingra, #GiftOfSight, Diwali, Diwali campaign, Sightsavers, Blind, Digital, social media agency, Dentsu Aegis Network, Eye Donation, Innovative digital campaigns, Digital campaign, Gift Of Sight

The campaign seeks to deliver investor education messages through real-life human stories – stories of ordinary people who have had an impact on society and communities. Each of the stories is pegged to one investment pillar.

Speaking at the launch, Juzer Tambawalla, Director and Head – Marketing, Franklin Templeton Investments said, “These are stories about everyday Indians achieving something out of the ordinary. How did they do that? By having a goal, starting early, stepping up, staying resilient, seeking guidance and believing that it’s never too late to begin. We have sought inspiration from real-life individuals to draw parallels with each situation, in an effort to impart core values that we believe are instrumental while investing. Each story is an excellent example of how one can succeed by using these principles even with their own investments.”

Commenting on the launch, Balaji Vaidyanathan, Deputy Head – Marketing, Franklin Templeton Investments said, “The Reach for Better campaign draws inspiration from multiple dynamic backgrounds. It features a diverse set of individuals like a tech-savvy visually challenged person, a best-selling author who started as a domestic help, a successful transgender radio host who broke gender stereotypes, a young innovator transforming lives, an individual who revolutionized farming across the globe and a woman entrepreneur who triumphed against all odds. Each story is woven beautifully in a manner that talks about the importance of that tenet to one’s life, as well as investments.”

Talking about this partnership, Dhimant Parekh, CEO & Founder of The Better India says “As India’s only positive news platform, The Better India’s motto is to help the audience turn inspiration to impact. As a natural extension of this philosophy, The Better India and Franklin Templeton Investments have come together to tell stories about Indians who despite all odds have stayed true to their real purpose, reached for better, while making a massive impact in the lives of so many others.”

The first episode showcases the story of Kajal Brahmavar, the first transgender radio jockey from coastal Karnataka. From begging on the streets to becoming Karnataka’s first transgender RJ, Kajal’s journey has been nothing short of inspiring. Even though she faced a number of challenges in life and went through multiple highs and lows, she chose to stay resilient. Her never-give-up attitude is an inspiration for all.

It is this spirit of resilience that Franklin Templeton Investments and The Better India are celebrating through Kajal’s story. Whether in life or with your investments, staying resilient can help you #ReachForBetter.

The second episode in the series is the story of Shankar Chandrashekar – a 29-year-old techie who was born visually impaired and physically challenged. He works as an accessibility tester in a software firm, runs a YouTube channel that decodes the use of different applications for the blind, is a teacher for the visually impaired, and is also helping other people like him find the kind of freedom he has found.

Having left his hometown when he was just 3 years old, Shankar’s childhood may not have been the easiest but he consistently stepped up, faced all the challenges and learned to live independently. And now, with his never back down attitude, he is on a mission to help others like him also live an independent life!

About The Better India
The Better India is a disruptive tech-media platform that uses impactful storytelling to reach over 50 million people every month. We use the power of positive storytelling to showcase the journey of India’s most inspiring individuals. We drive our audience to turn this inspiration into impact! We are committed to showcasing constructive work being done in India and thereby advancing the impacted ecosystem at large.

This campaign is about:
Franklin Templeton Investments, Mutual Funds, The Better India, Storytelling, Blind, Visually Impaired, #ReachForBetter, Transgender, Radio, Reach for Better, Gender, Stereotypes, Best digital campaigns