Background

Covid-19 trapped over 300 million Chinese kids inside, closing schools and all forms of entertainment. This meant mums soon ran out of ways to entertain their kids – and after nearly 3 months, patience was wearing thin. To help mums, and keep kids minds stimulated, we created the Voice Doodler. A voice-activated platform that turns your imagination into animations instantly, using a combination of speech recognition and machine learning. And all mums had to do to access it, was open the page on WeChat! The programme recognized an almost infinite number of words in English and Chinese, allowing families to create endless story combinations and help kids develop speech skills. Stories could also be saved for later, or shared with other family members, allowing people to stay connected during lockdown.

Describe the creative idea (30% of vote)

Covid-19 trapped hundreds of millions of kids inside, closing schools and all forms of entertainment. This meant mums soon ran out of ways to entertain their kids – and after nearly 3 months, patience was wearing thin. To help mums, and keep kids’ minds stimulated, we created the Voice Doodler. It’s a voice-activated platform that turns your imagination into animations instantly, using a combination of speech recognition and machine learning. And all mums had to do to access it, was open the page on WeChat! The program recognized an almost infinite number of words in English and Chinese, allowing families to create endless story combinations and help kids develop speech skills. Stories could also be saved for later, or shared with other family members, allowing people to stay connected during lockdown.

Describe the strategy (20% of vote)

Every mother in China has a WeChat account, making it the perfect way to reach them during the months trapped inside. With this in mind, we gave them a helping hand, in the palm of their hand. All they had to do to activate the Voice Doodler was scan their pack while making their milk, and it instantly accessed the WeChat Mini Program, giving them an endless way to keep kids entertained, both while feeding and any other time. The Mini Program also allowed mothers to save and share their stories with friends and family, helping keep a sense of community active even when people where kept physically apart.

Describe the execution (20% of vote)

In order to execute the Voice Doodler, we created a database of over 4000 illustrations, each of which was tagged with both English and Chinese words. When mothers and kids speak, it instantly draws the images, backgrounds, lighting changes and animations from this database – with no delay – allowing mothers to create multi-page, rich storytelling in real time despite the complexity of these various technologies. By hosting the experience on WeChat, we also ensured that there was no boundary for mothers, all they had to do was scan a code on the pack, or click a link on a banner, or read the story of a friend online… and they could immediately access the experience themselves. This gave busy and stressed parents a much needed break during the madness of 2020.

List the results (30% of vote)

The Voice Doodler generated engagement rates of nearly 4 times the normal duration, and was such a success in China it is now rolling out worldwide. Proving Wyeth’s belief that “Every child is born with unlimited potential”… and their understanding that parents need a little rest occasionally.