2021 Winner
Public Service Best of Show
GoldBest New Insight
GoldBest in Consumer Engagement
GoldBest Use of Technology
GoldBest in Niche Targeting
Google AI / CDSS
"Project Understood"
FCB
"Project Understood"
FCB
With 8 billion voice assistants in use around the world by 2023, the future will be voice-first, but that future doesn’t include people with Down syndrome. Google’s voice assistant has the most market share in Canada, yet currently misunderstands about one in every three words of a person
with Down syndrome.
The Canadian Down Syndrome Society (CDSS) had two problems to solve, make voice technology more accessible to people with Down syndrome and shift perceptions of a stigmatized community by showing how access to voice technology can lead to life-changing independence.
Adults with Down syndrome are capable of living independently; they simply require more structure and assistance. Strategies to help them remember to cook, clean, and complete their routines are required; they need more support to be safe. Because of their unique needs, voice assistants would be an invaluable tool, allowing them to set automatic reminders and schedules, build to-do lists, and
get easy access to help.
Voice technology requires millions of data points (human voices) to perform optimally. Unfortunately, for those with Down syndrome, the small size of their community means these AI systems are lacking the data they need to reliably understand them.
Introducing Project Understood, a campaign that recruits people with Down syndrome and turns them into Google’s teachers, using their voices to train Google’s speech recognition model
to understand them.
The campaign launched during Canadian Down Syndrome Week (November 1-7), with two social videos shedding light on the inaccessibility of voice technology for people with Down syndrome and the impact on their lives. The videos served as a recruitment tool, mobilizing the community to donate their voices to train Google.
All media drove to Projectunderstood.ca, which was built to be inviting and informative. Qualified participants received a login to enter Chit Chat, an engine for raw data collection and machine learning required to train Google’s AI and voice assistant technology. Participants were served 1000s of pre-determined phrases guided by speech pathologists and Google AI scientists with the flexibility to record phrases over multiple sessions, at their convenience.
Earned media both amplified the message and changed perceptions of people with Down syndrome by depicting the community in a new light, advocating for their right to live independently and empowered them as Google’s teachers. A small, marginalized community was showing one of the world’s largest and most technically sophisticated corporations how to change their platform.
To recruit this niche audience with only $1000 in media, they targeted the tight knit Down syndrome community organically, knowing the more they engaged, the more the video would be seen by this niche audience. And, for the first time, they harnessed first-party data to target Down syndrome community groups across North America through email and social media, this in turn led to engagement from more international groups and the campaign became global.
Through this targeted, data-driven approach to community outreach, Project Understood is now making voice technology inclusive for the Down syndrome community. Google and CDSS presented their research at the UN on March 20th, 2020, calling on all technology companies to make voice technology accessible. In the Spring of 2021, Google launched a new beta voice assistant, based on the data they helped capture, showing Project Understood’s long-term impact on a vulnerable community.
Project Understood achieved global reach. ROI is incalculable, but on a cost per impression basis, 775,000 impressions per dollar spent isn’t bad. Other campaign results included recruiting the community with 826,107 organic reach on Facebook (a 678% increase from the CDSS’s best performing campaign) and 82,995 engagements, with just $1,000 in media. 30+ countries and 735 Down syndrome organizations participated, over one million voices were donated to Google’s speech recognition database, and for changing public perceptions, 775 million earned media impressions globally.
with Down syndrome.
The Canadian Down Syndrome Society (CDSS) had two problems to solve, make voice technology more accessible to people with Down syndrome and shift perceptions of a stigmatized community by showing how access to voice technology can lead to life-changing independence.
Adults with Down syndrome are capable of living independently; they simply require more structure and assistance. Strategies to help them remember to cook, clean, and complete their routines are required; they need more support to be safe. Because of their unique needs, voice assistants would be an invaluable tool, allowing them to set automatic reminders and schedules, build to-do lists, and
get easy access to help.
Voice technology requires millions of data points (human voices) to perform optimally. Unfortunately, for those with Down syndrome, the small size of their community means these AI systems are lacking the data they need to reliably understand them.
Introducing Project Understood, a campaign that recruits people with Down syndrome and turns them into Google’s teachers, using their voices to train Google’s speech recognition model
to understand them.
The campaign launched during Canadian Down Syndrome Week (November 1-7), with two social videos shedding light on the inaccessibility of voice technology for people with Down syndrome and the impact on their lives. The videos served as a recruitment tool, mobilizing the community to donate their voices to train Google.
All media drove to Projectunderstood.ca, which was built to be inviting and informative. Qualified participants received a login to enter Chit Chat, an engine for raw data collection and machine learning required to train Google’s AI and voice assistant technology. Participants were served 1000s of pre-determined phrases guided by speech pathologists and Google AI scientists with the flexibility to record phrases over multiple sessions, at their convenience.
Earned media both amplified the message and changed perceptions of people with Down syndrome by depicting the community in a new light, advocating for their right to live independently and empowered them as Google’s teachers. A small, marginalized community was showing one of the world’s largest and most technically sophisticated corporations how to change their platform.
To recruit this niche audience with only $1000 in media, they targeted the tight knit Down syndrome community organically, knowing the more they engaged, the more the video would be seen by this niche audience. And, for the first time, they harnessed first-party data to target Down syndrome community groups across North America through email and social media, this in turn led to engagement from more international groups and the campaign became global.
Through this targeted, data-driven approach to community outreach, Project Understood is now making voice technology inclusive for the Down syndrome community. Google and CDSS presented their research at the UN on March 20th, 2020, calling on all technology companies to make voice technology accessible. In the Spring of 2021, Google launched a new beta voice assistant, based on the data they helped capture, showing Project Understood’s long-term impact on a vulnerable community.
Project Understood achieved global reach. ROI is incalculable, but on a cost per impression basis, 775,000 impressions per dollar spent isn’t bad. Other campaign results included recruiting the community with 826,107 organic reach on Facebook (a 678% increase from the CDSS’s best performing campaign) and 82,995 engagements, with just $1,000 in media. 30+ countries and 735 Down syndrome organizations participated, over one million voices were donated to Google’s speech recognition database, and for changing public perceptions, 775 million earned media impressions globally.
Credits
Client: Canadian Down Syndrome SocietyChair: Ed Casagrande
Interim Executive Director: Laura LaChance
Marketing & Communications Manager: Kristen Halpen
Board Member: Ben Tarr
Partner : Google
Creative Agency: FCB Canada
Chief Creative Officers: Nancy Crimi-Lamanna & Jeff Hilts
Worldwide Creative Partner, EVP: Fred Levron
Associate Creative Director: Elma Karabegovic
Associate Creative Director: Michael Morelli
Associate Creative Director: Marty Hoefkes
Copywriter: Shannon McCarroll
Copywriter: Jason Soy
Chief Strategy Officer: Shelley Brown
Director of Strategy: Eryn LeMesurier
Director of Strategy: Shelagh Hartford
Strategy Coordinator: Audrey Zink
EVP, General Manager: Tracy Little
VP, Managing Director: Tim Welsh
Group Account Director: Blake Connolly
Account Supervisor: Olivia Selbie
Agency Producers: Sarah Michener/Kristine Lippett
VP of Operations: Shandi Horovitch
Project Manager: Cori Pettit
Director, Product and Technology Solutions: John Sime
EVP, Head of Global Innovation: Kris Hoet
PR: Shannon Stephaniuk, Glossy
Production Company: Fuelcontent
Director: Scott Drucker
Line Producer: Sarah Michener
Director of Photography: Scott Drucker & Chet Tilokani
Camera Operator: Scott Drucker & Chet Tilokani
Audio: Nicolas Field
Hair & Make-Up: Neil Silverman
Photographer: Cassidy Clemmer
Editing House: Outsider Editorial
Editor: John Gallagher/Michael Barker
Editorial Assistant: Scott Edwards
Executive Producer: Kristina Anzlinger
Transfer Facility: Alter Ego
Colourist: Eric Whipp
Online Facility: Alter Ego
VFX Artist: Eric Perrella
Alter Ego Producer: Caitlin Schooley-Groneveldt
Music House: Grayson Matthews
Music Track Director: Mark Dominic
Engineer: Vlad Nikolic
Audio Producer: Kelly McCluskey
Speech Pathologist: Amanda Cotton
Website design: Bliss Interactive
Kris Van Wallendael
Julie Post
Dao Tran