Why is this work relevant for Media?

India is home to the world’s largest blind population – still they struggle to be part of mainstream. Leading brand Savlon took an initiative to include them by re-launching its products in Braille. This gesture made the pack accessible to visually-impaired. Whilst media is accessible to visually challenged, they are dependent on others to consume it. We wanted to include them without glossing over their weakness or limitation. So, we made media accessible to them, and turned Mass Media into Braille. Post-campaign, meaningful initiatives emerged - Incumbent Finance Minister, India donated 25 Million INR to leading publication for the initiative.

Background

India houses an estimated 15 Million blind population, making it the largest blind community in the world. This often ignored community, are not addressed by any mass media. Inspite of being literate - they are still not addressed - as their literacy is different from masses. And hence not counted. The pain of this snub makes them feel excluded. In its commitment towards an equitable and inclusive society - Savlon introduced a first of its kind packs with braille language - to enable easy access to the visually impaired. Our objective two pronged: 1. Make the visually challenged more inclusive through mass media. 2. And to influence the people at large who were turning a blind eye to them. We decided to make people notice we zeroed in on World Sight Day – a day that brings global attention to blindness and vision impairment.

Describe the creative idea/insights (30% of vote)

India Is a tolerant nation, it houses many cultures and caste and it truly celebrates a sense of togetherness. However, this sense of togetherness did not encompass the visually challenged. And they continued to be ignored. This behaviour has compounded to make them feel “separate” and marginalised. The pain of not even being considered is the worst form of neglect – and this had become their way of life. Our idea was to create an intervention on this neglect – by making the ‘normals’ experience in real time the pain of being snubbed. And address the visually challenged on Mass media.

Describe the strategy (20% of vote)

We could not restrict media choice to something that only visually impaired consumed, but those consumed by people with normal vision and out of reach to the visually impaired. The manifestation of this campaign pivoted On the point of literacy difference. So we decided to bring this point of difference onto mass media. Beyond reach, we chose our media touchpoints carefully. We chose mediums where there is an active sense of reading. Newspaper became an important pivot in our media choice. Newspaper were chosen because because of their ability for touch-and-feel of the Braille script. For the first time, a visually challenged person woke up in the morning and read a full newspaper - in Braille.

Describe the execution (20% of vote)

We partnered with 2 leading newspapers for this campaign. Both the publications reworked all their logistical timelines for this campaign. •Braille printing requires special printing capabilities. This meant printing at such a large scale had to be outsourced. •The edit closed their timeline at 2pm instead of 8pm to accommodate braille translation. •We needed braille translator to translate at that scale and proficiency. We reached out to blind schools, for their teachers during school hours for translation. •The publishing houses went beyond the normal distribution network and distributed the newspapers to blind schools across multiple cities •Braille printing in Punjab is available only one printing press, run by Government. The day before World Sight Day was a public holiday, we convinced official bodies to open the press, to ensure Braille newspaper was printed on World Sight Day. •Both publication houses worked with us PROBONO – because they believed in the

List the results (30% of vote)

- Campaign reached o 549 Mn people, 40% of Indian population o 9800 children across 30 blind schools, - Newspaper houses partnered PRO BONO. Beyond campaign will o Conduct reading sessions with blind school students every quarter o Print Braille newspaper every World Sight Day o Donated INR 2 Mn to blind schools - for advanced education material - Organic PR worth INR Mn 140.17 generated (70% of brand annual media budget) - Trust scores for Savlon up from 51 to 64 - Final verdict: “Thank you for making it possible.” - Madhu Sharma, Visually Impaired News Anchor “It feels good that people are considering us” – Suresh M., from one BLIND SCHOOL. Post campaign, real change emerging: o Constitution of India made available in Braille script o Prime Minister of India releases visually-impaired friendly coins o Visually impaired blind voters to get braille voter-slips in National Elections 2019