Sight Loss Break with RNIB

The Big Idea

Powered by our creative approach PL4Y, we created a ground-breaking idea to support the C4 drive to embrace accessibility for all viewers – and encourage advertisers to do the same. There is still a distinct lack of brands that actively produce ads which can be consumed and understood by viewers who have problems seeing what’s on their telly. We wanted to raise awareness of this within the industry, as well as highlighting to consumers what it is like to suffer from common, permanent sight conditions in order to drive awareness of the importance of eye care.

We wanted to produce different visual filters that could be overlaid on the ad copies to bring to life the 5 most common sight conditions in the UK; macular degeneration, cataracts and eye conditions caused by diabetes, hemianopia and glaucoma. In an unprecedented move, the brands allowed us to cover over key components of their ad copy, taking a leap of faith to support this meaningful initiative.

Making it Happen

In order to do this, there were multiple brands and companies we needed to get on board with this idea, and so to start with we needed a more informed perspective. Enter The Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB)! By working with the RNIB we were able to really understand how best to approach the idea and ensure any visual representations were authentically and appropriately designed. Once we were clear in our creative direction we then needed some well-known brand partners to really bring the idea to life. To do this 4Sales worked with Specsavers, O2, Paco Rabane, Freeview and Amazon Echo with the special break scheduled during National Eye Health Week and airing within the highly inclusive C4 show; The Undateables.

So we had the ‘Why,’ the ‘What’ and the ‘Who’ but still needed to nail the ‘How’ which is where 4Creative came in with their award winning expertise in creating inclusive advertising. Following the ad-break take over, we then asked viewers to watch out again for the next ad break where we repeated the theme but this time with the addition of audio description. This helped demonstrate what a difference AD makes to help those with sight loss to understand the ads (brands shouldn’t forget about the 2m consumers who may want to buy their products!). The use of audio description across an entire ad break has never been done before and marked a cultural shift in advertising.
Both breaks were bumpered by a bespoke ident introducing the break, as well as short interstitials in-between each ad to intro what condition was about to be brought to life, all using the iconic C4 blocks to highlight the unique partnership.

The Results

Whilst a small amount of viewers panicked thinking their telly was broken (!), the majority had huge praise! Viewers flooded Twitter with supportive messages and we received great exposure through trade press and national titles including The Guardian, Daily Mail and The Sun. The Times also covered this original advertising concept on the day of broadcast, driving additional awareness. Post the ads airing, the RNIB saw a 600% increase in site traffic, with visitors spending on average over 4 minutes on the site watching the execution again and researching important eye care issues.

Quite simply, without the teamwork demonstrated between the 8 companies involved it just wouldn’t have worked and we would still be seeing brands producing work without enough consideration for those who have difficulty in actually seeing the work.