Brands embrace inclusivity

Talking about localisation…
Over the past few years, the consumer has seen a shift in advertising that aims at greater inclusivity.

But while brands are making an effort to include more diverse models in their campaigns – be it gender, ethnicity or weight – they still tend to forget a large demographic: the hearing and sight impaired. While it’s not yet a norm, Creative Culture puts the spotlight on a few great campaigns that target this large audience of consumers.

Budweiser

As part of their FIFA World Cup 2018 campaign, the beer brand developed a way to help blind and deaf football fans to join in the celebrations. Building off viral stories of people who interpreted and acted out the plays for their impaired friends, the brand came up with “The World’s Cup”, a cup that lights up in response to noise made by the fans. They then took it a step further and made the cup vibrate, so that deaf and blind fans can feel the energy of the match.

Amazon Echo Show

As a device based on vocal commands, it’s no surprise that the Amazon Echo Show – an Alexa-enabled screen with speakers – was not very accessible to hearing- and speech-impaired consumers. However, Amazon listened and quickly came up with solutions to help improve the accessibility of the device. Users can now use the “Tap to Alexa” feature to access popular Alexa features via the device’s touchscreen. The device also offers “Alexa Captioning”, which provides transcriptions of incoming voice messages and captions Alexa’s responses.

Maltesers

In 2016, Maltesers rolled out the first ever sign-language only advert in the UK. The advert, called “Theo’s Dog”, was part of a larger campaign to celebrate diversity ahead of the 2016 Paralympics. Initially, the 30-sec advert played without subtitles, helping able-bodied consumers to grasp the barriers that exist for hearing- and speech-impaired communities. The subtitles were subsequently added in, allowing viewers to share in the two women’s humorous conversation.

This advert was then followed in 2017 by a braille billboard made out of the popular candy.