WHY IS THIS WORK RELEVANT?

Teaching sign language to the Mexican population is the best way to integrate more than 2 million deaf people into society. But with only 10 teachers in the entire country, it is an almost impossible task.

That’s why, on National Day of the Deaf, we launched TikTok Teachers. A completely organic challenge that took us from 10 teachers to 3.4 million teachers live. We became trending for four days and created the first sign language dictionary on TikTok, gathering in a single hashtag 1,300 words that make up the original dictionary.

BACKGROUND

There are more than 2 million hearing-impaired people in Mexico, but only 40 non-deaf Mexicans speak sign language, forcing them to live in isolation in small deaf communities.

Teaching the Mexican population their sign language is the best way to integrate them into society, but with only 10 teachers in the entire country, this is an almost impossible task.

BRIEF:

For the National Day of the Deaf, we needed an activity that would generate interest in learning sign language. We needed to make the Mexican dictionary accessible to all and take the first step toward a more inclusive Mexico, where there are no barriers to communicate.

Objectives:

·       To make visible the problem of inclusion of hearing-impaired Mexicans.

·       To stimulate interest in learning sign language.

·       To make the Mexican Sign Language dictionary accessible to all.

·       Promote the use of Mexican sign language among the population.

·       Achieve the integration of hearing-impaired people in the country.

·       Eliminate communication barriers and take the first step towards a more inclusive Mexico.

IDEA

Teaching sign language to the Mexican population is the best way to integrate the more than 2 million deaf people into society with only 10 teachers in the entire country, it’s an almost impossible task.

That’s why, on the occasion of National Day of the Deaf in Mexico, we launched TikTok Teachers. A completely organic challenge that took us from 10 teachers to 3.4 million teachers live. We became trending for four days and created the first sign language dictionary on TikTok, gathering in a single hashtag 1,300 words that make up the original dictionary.

STRATEGY

No Mexican wants to spend 1 minute learning sign language, but they spend more than 14 hours a month watching dances on TikTok. So why not convert the Mexican sign language dictionary into Tiktok dances? That way, every time someone learns a dance, they also learn a word in sign language.

EXECUTION

·   We challenged the influencers to Google a word in sign language and then turned it into a TikTok dance.

·    The influencers accepted the challenge and began posting hundreds of dances on their profiles.

·   Their followers interacted with them while creating new dances on their networks.

·    We became trending on TikTok for four days.

·    We went from 10 teachers to 3.4 million teachers live.

·    We reached 27 million fans who mimicked the action for months.

·   We created the first sign language dictionary on TikTok that brings together in a single hashtag the 1.300 words that make up the original sign dictionary

·    And we turned a social network into the most entertaining sign language school around.

RESULTS

·    We became trending on TikTok for four days.

·    We went from 10 teachers to 3.4 million teachers live.

·   We reached 27 million fans who repeated the action for months.

·    We created the first sign language dictionary on TikTok that brings together in a single hashtag the 1.300 words that make up the original sign dictionary

·     And we turned a social network into the most entertaining sign language school ever.