Shift 20 Initiative Launches Australian-First Braille Out-of-Home for People with Low Vision or Blindness with Special and JCDecaux

As part of the Shift 20 Initiative, Special, in partnership with JCDecaux, has unveiled an Australian-first Out-of-Home braille campaign for AAMI, designed to empower individuals with low vision or blindness who read braille.

The Shift 20 Initiative, which launched recently, is a coalition of leading brands together with the Dylan Alcott Foundation, focused on increasing disability representation, inclusion and accessibility in Australian advertising and media. The initiative aims to help brands create marketing communications with diverse audiences in mind and encourages them to look for opportunities to make a shift.

Special partnered with JCDecaux on this groundbreaking Out-of-Home campaign concept as part of the Shift 20 launch, collaborating closely to develop this new approach to creative and production – and the hope is that more brands will apply approaches similar to this, in order to create more accessible communications and more broadly, have it become a universal medium for the vision impaired. These Out-of-Home signs units also aim to generate conversation around the issue of accessibility.

Special partnered with JCDecaux on this groundbreaking Out-of-Home campaign concept as part of the Shift 20 launch, collaborating closely to develop this approach. Special worked with JCDecaux to develop this new production approach – the hope is that more brands will follow suit, and look at ways to create more accessible communications.

The braille inscriptions were written ​​in collaboration with Vision Australia, intended to describe both the visual elements of the creative, as well as the copy. To further enhance accessibility, the creative includes a QR code for the Shift 20 website for those who use text readers.

“As Australia’s largest personal insurer, we know how important it is to support diversity and inclusion and represent all Australians in our workforce and through our advertising campaigns,” said Mim Haysom, Suncorp Group's EGM brand and customer experience.

 

“Brands have been evolving the way they represent people in our community, but we can and need to do more to support all aspects of diversity and inclusion. Adapting how we deliver these campaigns to achieve greater accessibility is the next step and we’re very proud to be working with Special and JCDeceaux on this Australian-first initiative.”

Peter Cvetkovski, creative director at Special said, “Accessible communication is not only essential for inclusion but also for building connections with your audience, especially given that almost 4.5 million Australians have some form of disability. Furthermore, it's important to note that creating accessible advertising is not just about changing how we communicate, but seamlessly integrating accessibility into our everyday lives.”

Lama Perrin, group manager creative and digital solutions, JCDecaux said, "This collaboration between JCDecaux, the Dylan Alcott Foundation's Shift 20 Initiative and Special highlights the path to inclusivity in Australian advertising with the launch of an Australian-first Out-of-Home braille campaign for AAMI. Together, we're not just creating ads; we're creating accessibility and changing the narrative."

Special created units for both the Shift 20 initiative and AAMI rolling out across Melbourne and Sydney. The AAMI Out-of-Home unit introduces Lara Nakhle – Singer Songwriter who is herself blind – as the new voice of the ‘Lucky You’re With AAMI’ jingle (Lara also appears in the AAMI commercial, as the new AAMI woman). 

The Out-of-Home campaign will be displayed in Melbourne and Sydney at various locations throughout September and October. 

The braille boards are printed on a high-quality Composite Panel, which can withstand all types of weather conditions and resist warping in the sun. The braille is created using Relief Printing, a process that applies hundreds of layers of ink, adding small percentages at a time, gradually building up the raised braille dots, which is applied on top of the existing creative.