Category: Best Use of Live Events and/or Stunts
Advertiser: WIMPY
Product/Service: BRAILLE MENU
Agency: METROPOLITANREPUBLIC
Executive Creative Officer: Paul Warner (Metropolitanrepublic)
Creative Director: Wesley Phelan (Metropolitanrepublic)
Copywriter: Keith Manning (Metropolitanrepublic)
Art Director: Dale Mullany (Metropolitanrepublic)
Producer: Simone Bosman (Metropolitanrepublic)
Director: Will Collinson (Black Envelope Films)
Photographer: Mike Lewis, Nick Van Reenen (Mike Lewis Photography)
Retoucher: Darren Bell (Metropolitanrepublic)
Executive Creative Director: Peter Khoury (Metropolitanrepublic)
Media placement: Direct Mail - Blind SA Office - 10 October 2011
Media placement: Publicity Stunt - Louis Braille House - 10 October 2011
Media placement: Ambient - Braille Services - 10 October 2011
Media placement: Email - Email - 12 October 2011
Media placement: Viral Video - YouTube - 23 October 2011
Media placement: Print - Louis Braille House Publication - 19 October 2011
Summary of the Campaign
Wimpy wanted to let visually-impaired people know that they offered braille menus in all of their restaurants.
To spread the word, we built braille burgers that blind people could actually read.
With the help of skilled chefs we took sesame seeds and meticulously placed them on burger buns so that the seeds formed braille.
We then delivered the Braille Burgers to 3 of South Africa’s biggest blind institutions. These 3 companies have access to most of the 1 200,000 visually-impaired people living in South Africa. The visually-impaired staff of these companies loved the Braille Burgers so much that it motivated them to pass on the message about the braille menus to their massive network of visually-impaired people, through their newsletters and screen-reader emails. The Wimpy Braille Burger project has rapidly moved through the global market and achieved a massive amount of public support.
The Situation
Out of the 53,000,000 people living in South Africa, 1,200,000 of them are visually-impaired. Wimpy wanted to let every visually-impaired South African know that there is now a seat for them at the table.
The Goal
It is very difficult for visually-impaired people to live in a world built for sighted people. That is why Wimpy prints braille menus. The objective was to get the 1,200,000 visually-impaired people of South Africa to enjoy a full dining experience by letting them know that Wimpy offers braille menus in all of their restaurants; upload the video in order to fuel an online wildfire, attract media and build awareness around the challenges of living in a world built for sighted people; increase brand affinity amongst all South Africans and especially in the blind community.
The Strategy
Careful research and planning was crucial because of our limited budget. We brought in braille experts and did many tests to try and figure out the best possible way to build the braille burgers. We created this simple direct mailer and delivered it to the key people, Blind SA, Louis Braille Home and Braille Services. They have access to most of South Africa’s visually-impaired. They keep in contact with the visually-impaired by using the amazing screen reader email software. This software enables visually-impaired people to communicate via email. When a blind person receives an email, this program reads the email out for them. We also needed to attract social media to help bring exposure to what Wimpy was doing for the blind community. Social networks and blogs have become indispensable tools because of their high reach, affordability and efficiency, making them the perfect medium to convey our message.
Execution
Traditional media would not help us reach many of the visually-impaired people living in South Africa. It would also be a waste of money. So we spoke to the people who have access to most of the 1,200,000 visually-impaired people of South Africa, Blind SA, Louis Braille House and Braille Services. The blind staff at these 3 companies are in daily contact with South Africa's visually-impaired. They keep in contact through braille newsletters and screen reader emails. This was the most relevant and effective way to spread the news of our service.
Documented Results
By building just 15 braille burgers our message was passed on to over 800,000 visuall- impaired South Africans informing them that Wimpy has braille menus in all of restaurants.
In doing this not only did we increase our footfall amongst the visually-impaired we also built up our brand affinity amongst all South Africans.
The campaign was written and spoken about in over 100 local newspapers, websites and radio stations. From there the international media picked up on it and spread it all over the world.
We received over 2m dollars' worth of free media for a campaign that only cost $302. Which means our return on investment covered our total cost 6,000 times over.