THE CHALLENGE
Cadbury Fingers has an ongoing partnership with the National Deaf Children’s Society designed to increase deaf awareness, get the nation learning some BSL and generally help deaf people feel more included.
After multiple years of (successful!) campaigning focussing on shared cultural moments such as sport or celebrity gossip, we wanted something more community-led that would emotionally engage the public. We needed to spotlight moments where deaf people are left out, remind people why the campaign exists and continue to motive the public to be more deaf aware.
THE IDEA
Our inspiration came from research showing that 79% of deaf families miss out on one of the UK’s most anticipated seasonal moments of the year…Halloween! Communicating in darkness and mask wearing makes lip reading difficult and a generally miserable experience for the deaf community.
With Cadbury Fingers one of the nation’s favourite sweet treats, we not only had a right to play in the Halloween space, but the power to make a big difference to deaf communities across Britain.
Working closely with experts, deaf consultants and BSL training specialists we decided to teach whole British neighbourhoods classic Halloween phrases in British Sign Language so deaf families could get involved in these sharing moments for the first time ever. We filmed online lessons showing how to deliver key Halloween phrases including costume compliments, ‘help yourself’ and THE big question – trick or treat! We even designed vinyl ‘BSL-Friendly’ window stickers to highlight the houses the deaf community could engage with, and provided guidance on mask wearing and lighting to help with visual cues and lip reading.
For an unmissable launch moment, we decided to go one step further with the ambition to create the first completely BSL friendly street in the UK. We delighted deaf 7 year old Ada from Worcester when 60% of her community learnt BSL. The surprise and delight spread across her smiling face and the
emotion felt by her mother and all the neighbours involved was truly special. We captured the moment on film and later were joined by film crews from BBC News and ITV. Safe to say Ada had one of the best nights of her life, but what she didn’t realise is that she became the inspiration for numerous communities around the country to do the same thing.
Forget tricks, this campaign was a real treat for everyone involved. And the results speak for themselves.
THE IDEA
Over 200 pieces of coverage globally
7 min BBC news segment
50% of Brits now willing to learn BSL
92,000 page views on our educational hub
65,000 watches of our ‘little lessons’ on YouTube
11 different community groups committing to running similar schemes next Halloween
Post campaign awareness showed a 17% increase in the association between Cadbury Fingers brand and its
purpose of ‘everyday moments of connection’.
