THE HEARING TEST IN DISGUISE

Short List
TitleTHE HEARING TEST IN DISGUISE
BrandCOCHLEAR
Product / ServiceCOCHLEAR HEARING IMPLANT
CategoryB03. Use of Broadcast
EntrantREVOLVER/WILL O'ROURKE Sydney, AUSTRALIA
Idea Creation CHE PROXIMITY Sydney, AUSTRALIA
Media Placement CHE PROXIMITY Sydney, AUSTRALIA
PR CHE PROXIMITY Sydney, AUSTRALIA
Production REVOLVER/WILL O'ROURKE Sydney, AUSTRALIA

Credits

Name Company Position
Ant White CHE Proximity Executive Creative Director
Brian Jefferson CHE Proximity Group Creative Director
Ben Stainlay CHE Proximity Creative Director
Jake Blood CHE Proximity Junior Art Director
Anne Lau CHE Proximity Junior Copywriter
Chris Howatson CHE Proximity CEO
David Halter CHE Proximity Managing Partner
Mariana Rice CHE Proximity Group Account Director
Alice Jamieson CHE Proximity Senior Accout Manager
Harry Manion CHE Proximity Account Executive
Daniel Bradley CHE Proximity Head of Investment
Cameron Dinnie CHE Proximity Head of Programmatic & Data Partnerships
Olivia Scott CHE Proximity Senior Experience Strategist
Lily Tidy CHE Proximity Strategic Planner
Andrew Drougas CHE Proximity Chief Operating Officer
Tori Taylor CHE Proximity Executive Producer
Hannah Garcia CHE Proximity Junior Planner
Jen Livingston CHE Proximity Senior TV Producer
Jamie Metcalfe CHE Proximity Digital Products Director
Blair Patterson CHE Proximity Digital Producer
Everyone PR Edge PR Agency
The Glue Society's Pete Baker Revolver/Will O'Rourke Screenwriter/Director
Michael Ritchie Revolver/Will O'Rourke Managing Director/Executive Producer
Josh Mullens Revolver/Will O'Rourke Executive Producer/Head of Projects
Jasmin Helliar Revolver/Will O'Rourke Producer
Stefan Duscio Revolver/Will O'Rourke Director of Photography
Philip Horn n/a Editor
Erin Maxwell Noise International Production Manager
Kathleen Burrows Noise International Sound Designer
Bruce Heald Noise International Composer

Brief Explanation

'Does Love Last Forever?' follows Jake and Xanthe over four decades from when they first fall in love, develop a shared love for music, mature and have kids, all the way to the present day where the film resolves by posing the question: 'Did love last?' Depending on the viewers hearing ability, the film has two endings. For those who can hear well, their relationship remains loving. But for those hard of hearing, the couple's relationship appears to deteriorate. Extensive patient data from audiograms informed the script that used certain words with consonants such as T, S and F which are harder to hear due to their higher frequency. The ability to lip read was gradually taken away, body language was choreographed to be interpreted negatively, and ambient background noises were introduced to create confusion for those with hearing loss. 'Does Love Last Forever?' is a hearing test in disguise.

The Campaign

Based on the insight that people with hearing loss are in denial, we developed a way to test their hearing, without them knowing. ‘Does Love Last Forever?’ is a short film with two different endings, depending on the viewer’s hearing ability. It’s a Hearing Test in Disguise. The film follows a couple’s relationship over four decades, and poses the question “Did love last?” For those who can hear well, their relationship remains loving. But the film is scripted and produced in such a way that people with a hearing problem perceive the relationship to deteriorate. The beauty of the idea lies in the parallel between the perceived deterioration of the on-screen relationship by hearing loss sufferers, and the growing disconnect they may be experiencing in their own life, due to hearing loss. This subtle reminder demonstrates the effects of a condition that they may have refused to admit.

Results

The campaign exceeded all set KPIs. • Tested over 113,407 Australian’s hearing in the first 16 weeks– people who normally may have not been tested • 8,558 took a further hearing assessment • 155,294 visitors to the microsite, with a bounce rate of only 3% • Average time on page is 14 minutes, demonstrating high engagement • Exceeded our key commercial objective of filling Cochlear’s sales funnel with 1465 highly engaged, high value leads • The campaign delivered a successful Return Ratio of 25:1. Most importantly, the campaign is resulting in real patient outcomes. Although a lead can take up to six years to mature to an implant, after experiencing our hearing test in disguise, our first candidate will be undergoing surgery to receive a Cochlear implant later this year. She will be the first of many to receive this life-changing treatment off the back of seeing our campaign.

Explain why the method of promotion was most relevant to the product or service

This campaign was grounded in the understanding that our audience were deliberately choosing not to respond, or even respond to a condition that was seriously effecting their quality of life. Our main objective was to inspire action amongst a complacent and even actively resistant audience. Using a uniquely subtle approach, it kept the audience engaged throughout a lengthy and personally challenging journey to help them understand they have a problem. This included watching a short film, completing an interactive online assessment and finally signing up for a personal consultation and entering Cochlear’s lead nurture database.

Target audience: The target audience was everyone over the age of 55 with hearing loss. While those with severe to profound hearing loss (estimated to be 116,000 Australian’s) are the immediate ideal candidates for a Cochlear implant, Cochlear made the business decision to target everyone with hearing loss (including mild and moderate hearing loss) to nurture these leads as their hearing is likely to deteriorate over time. Approach: Disrupt the denial. To challenge an entrenched way of thinking, our approach called for a subtle touch, one that naturally appeared when our audience’s guard was low. We knew we had to target not only the sufferers of hearing loss but also their friends and family. Our intention was to make this campaign social, to spark conversation and get Australia talking about this silent epidemic.

Links

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