THE GUARDIAN ANGEL

TitleTHE GUARDIAN ANGEL
BrandASSOCIATION OF WOMEN FOR ACTION AND RESEARCH
Product / ServicePERSONAL PROTECTION WEARABLE TECHNOLOGY
CategoryA01. Innovation
EntrantJWT SINGAPORE , SINGAPORE
Entrant Company JWT SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE
Advertising Agency JWT SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE
Production Company CURIOUSLAB Singapore, SINGAPORE

Credits

Name Company Position
Valerie Cheng JWT Singapore Chief Creative Officer
Jac Rodrigo JWT Singapore Creative Director
Minzie Liyu JWT Singapore Creative Director
Alan Leong Jwt Singapore Associate Creative Director
Boby Ertanto JWT Singapore Programming Lead
Nicholas Ng JWT Singapore Technical Lead
Hidayah Asari Jwt Singapore Producer
Cris Pristay Jwt Singapore Regional Director Of Corporate Communications
Rachel Koh Jwt Singapore Senior Project Manager
Peter Chee Jwt Singapore Senior Project Manager
David Teo Curiouslab Technical Lead
Ron Lim Pixeledge Founder
Hiroyuki Kubo 1/10design.inc Art Director
Jonathan Tay Amanacliq Photographer
Trudi Koh Amanacliq Executive Producer
Frank Bauer Jwt Singapore Ceo
Yang Yeo JWT Shanghai National Creative Director
Lo Sheungyan JWT Shanghai Creative Chairman

The Brief

As governments worldwide invest in the education and awareness of sexual assault and rape issues, communication messages play a limited role to protect women and girls during those crucial moments of assault. Nearly 1 in 5 women or nearly 22 million have been raped in their lifetimes. 80% were raped before 25. More than 90% knew their perpetrator. Whilst one would shout for help when attacked by a stranger, a girl is often shocked and confused when it is committed by someone she trusts or knows. In partnership with AWARE, we wanted to create a simple intervention in seconds that would empower any women during any circumstances to disrupt the chain of events and call for help as soon as possible to prevent the rape from happening. We needed to create a device that is always accessible especially during those crucial moments. One that is still with her even if she's away from her bag or phone. With the rise in exploration of wearable technology, we felt this was an appropriate moment to create one so we partnered with a technology provider, silver accessory maker and retailer to make this happen. The product is currently available for sale online.

The Guardian Angel leverages existing technological assets which is currently available such as high performance, professional grade Bluetooth 4.0 Low Energy (BLE or Bluetooth Smart) radio transceiver with built-in ARM Cortex M0 micro controller. The technical lead from Curiouslab leveraged such existing parts to design and fabricate the smallest motherboard possible that would fit as a fashionable pendant. Then working closely with the mobile app developer at Pixeledge, they created The Guardian Angel app available on www.the-guardianangel.com, that would communicate with the pendant to trigger the 2 mobile functions - making a fake call and sending an SOS via SMS to designated phone number. The Guardian Angel is powered an everyday battery type: Lithium 3V, CR1632 (16mm diameter, 3.2mm thick) which is cheap and accessible. Once the first prototype has been created, mass production of the motherboard happens in China as the silverware is produced in Thailand. An online e-commerce site was set up with fashionable shots of the accessories, highlighting The Guardian Angel's appeal. The concept of The Guardian Angel embodies exactly what it sets out to do - a mode of protection which a woman can call upon anytime, anywhere. The design of the primary pendant was inspired by the concept as it takes the form of an angel's halo. Every aspect of this product from its name, to its design and tonality was finalised to provide women a true sense of security and purity. Though it was conceived in Singapore, it is sold worldwide as The Guardian Angel works in any country. Because of its accessibility world-wide, we hope to garner more funds and investment to explore more possibilities of smaller motherboards which could be designed into other accessories such as charms for bracelets, rings etc.

As The Guardian Angel's hardware is built with 2 functions - one click and one press-and-hold, we can continue to explore other forms of activating the mobile app with these functions. A simple upgrade of the app will allow us to constantly improve its utility. We continue to explore various sizes of shrinking the motherboard down and this would generate more possibilities of other forms of accessories. We also aim to create one which holds its own SIM/data card that would make it mobile independent as this would become useful for those who do not hold a mobile phone such as young children. Since it's launched on 28 April 2014, many distributors from around the world requested for distribution rights for their country. The Guardian Angel is now sold on-ground in Malaysia, Hong Kong, Spain, China, Russia, Japan and France. The awareness and PR value achieved since its launched reached more than USD5million worth of media and press coverage.