The Campaign

Millions of children with autism struggle to make eye contact and communicate with others. They have poor social skills and hence, are unable to develop meaningful relationships. In South Korea, treatments are expensive and medical resources are limited. The families of these children are ashamed about them and tend to hide their disorder from the public. As a result, many children miss treatment at an early age. Studies show that children with autism like to interact with digital devices. So we developed the world’s first interactive camera app to help them improve social skills. Using Samsung smart devices, we developed a fun and easy-to-use app to help children with autism interact with people. In collaboration with doctors, professors and app developers, seven missions were created to train the children to make better eye contact and improve their communication skills. Clinical test results showed that 60% of the children made better eye contact and 40% showed improvement in expressing themselves emotionally. The free app was first launched in South Korea and Canada, and then globally on 22 December 2014. Within a week, it quickly became one of the most downloaded apps in the “Education” category. It ranked third in the UK, fourth in the US and fifth in Brazil (as of 30 December). The number of downloads and media coverage have been increasing dramatically.

The Brief

The campaign’s objective is to provide an alternative free, private and readily available treatment for children with autism. So parents and their autistic children do not have to go through the hassles of expensive external treatments and be put on a long wait list when seeking treatment. Before implementing this campaign, extensive research was done to find out what would appeal to children with autism so we could execute our idea in the appropriate media.

Results

Clinical test results showed that 60% of the children made better eye contact and 40% showed improvement in expressing themselves emotionally. The free app was first launched in South Korea and Canada, and then globally on 22 December 2014. Within a week, it quickly became one of the most downloaded apps in the “Education” category. It ranked third in the UK, fourth in the US and fifth in Brazil (as of 30 December). The number of downloads and media coverage have been increasing dramatically.

Execution

The campaign was launched on a microsite and on owned online media. Accompanied by PR releases, a short commercial film was released on YouTube and social media, while the longer documentary film was released on Samsung media such as Samsung Tomorrow Blog, its main website, Facebook page, Twitter, YouTube and Bluelogger. The app was made available for download on Google Play. Following its successful launch, the campaign was covered on public TV, major online magazines and newspapers worldwide.

The Situation

Millions of children with autism struggle to make eye contact and communicate with others. They have poor social skills and hence, are unable to develop meaningful relationships. In South Korea, treatments are expensive and medical resources are limited. The families of these children are ashamed about them and tend to hide their disorder from the public. As a result, many children miss treatment at an early age.

The Strategy

Studies show that children with autism like to interact with digital devices. So we developed the world’s first interactive camera app to help them improve social skills. Using Samsung smart devices, we developed a fun and easy-to-use app to help children with autism interact with people. In collaboration with doctors, professors and app developers, seven missions were created to train the children to make better eye contact and improve their communication skills. The target audience is parents with autistic children. They’re technologically-savvy and largely well-versed with Samsung products. The media chosen is mobile devices and is determined by the insight that children with autism like to interact with digital devices.