The Campaign

We created Project Revoice, a voice cloning program that gives people with ALS the full use of their own authentic voices, even after they can no longer physically speak. With a custom machine learning algorithm that analyses and completely recreates a person’s voice, this technology gives ALS patients the ability to communicate freely and naturally in their own voice. To create exposure for the program, we managed to recreate the voice of Pat Quinn, who co-founded the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge while fighting the disease himself. By launching with a famous ALS advocate known for – arguably – the biggest story in ALS Association history, we rallied support and engagement both within the community and beyond, inspiring patients across the world to join the program to receive their own Revoice.

Execution

Due to the challenging nature of the technology required, Project Revoice was in development for over a year. It was signed off by the ALS Association in February 2018 and the PR team flew to NYC to film content with Pat Quinn and the Project Revoice team in early March. During this time the team coordinated the global media roll out, signed off assets and finalized the PR plan. In addition to the hero content video that told the full Project Revoice story, we created short form video content, VNR, specialist video content around tech and medicine, along with bitesize teasers and supporting infographics. Targeting key English-speaking territories, we launched in Australia, the UK, Canada and the US in mid- March and secured coverage around the globe.

• Over one million organic video views in the first week (earned media - without ATL support) • By week two over 41 million people had posted, commented shared or mentioned the campaign across social channels • Over 900 million earned media reach • Over 680 articles written globally with 100% positive sentiment and 95% key message penetration • Media highlights included o 2 x Channel 7 Sunrise breakfast TV (Au) o Channel 7 News TV (Au) o Channel 10 TV (Au) o The Australian (Au) o USA Today (US) o NY Post (US) o Fox News (US) o The Independent (UK) o Huffington Post (Canada) • Project Revoice was also endorsed by MND Australia, MND UK and ALS Cananda – in essence, all key English speaking associations supported the initiative. • Over 500 patients joined the program in the first month alone to receive their own Revoice via the www.projectrevoice.org website. On average, 105 people a week are diagnosed with ALS in the United States.

The Situation

Because it was a charity organization, there was very limited media spend and we needed to ensure that the story of Project Revoice reached as many people around the world as possible. PR was the most relevant and cost-effective way to reach multiple demographics, amplifying through trusted journalists, word-of-mouth and social media, so that Pat’s inspiring story and the technological breakthrough would give everyone with ALS (Motor Neurone Disease) hope that they would soon have the ability to communicate freely and naturally in their own voice, even after they can’t physically speak.

The Strategy

Building on the momentum of the Ice Bucket Challenge, we aimed to reach a mass audience across all those affected by ALS, their families and stakeholder groups. Our aim was to build mass awareness through high impact media, with a call to action for ALS/MND sufferers to record their voices. We realized we could maximize coverage by building on timely conversations about ALS/MND, prompted by the death of Stephen Hawking. Our urgency was also driven by the need to get patients recording their voices quickly, before they deteriorated too much. As well as global media, we targeted prestigious local media, including The Australian and Sunrise. This in itself presented a challenge as Pat was American, and Australian media always look for the Australian angle. We therefore highlighted Australian ingenuity in generating this idea and taking it to the world. Our CTA was for patients to join the program at projectrevoice.org.