La Parole Aux Sourds: Case study

Credits & Description:

Link: https://unsilenced.fr/en
Brand LA PAROLE AUX SOURDS
Entrant BETC PARIS
BETC Paris, France Entrant Company
BETC Paris, France Idea Creation
BETC DIGITAL Paris, France Idea Creation
INSURRECTION Paris, France Production
MATHEMATIC Paris, France Production
GREEN UNITED MUSIC Paris, France Production
BETC Paris, France Production
Stéphane Xiberras BETC CCO
David Martin Angelus BETC Creative Director
Erika Reyes BETC Art Director
Nick Bakshi BETC Copywriter
Rémi Lascault, Aline Afalo BETC Assistant art director
Kevin Fines BETC Assistant copywriter
Christophe Caurret BETC Music Creative Director
Arno Moria, Theo Gall Insurrection Producer
Alexandre Many Green United Music Art Director
Florine Perrault Green United Music Producer
Alban Coret NA Director
Hugo Lemant NA Editor
Guillaume Marien Mathematic Producer
Julie Lagadec Mathematic Post Production
Billy Read NA Dancer
David Martin Angelus, Charlotte Bals BETC Agency Management
Gabrielle Portnoi, Deborah Portnoi La parole aux sourds Brand Management
Maxime Huyghe BETC Digital studio Agency Management
Arthur Guillaume BETC Digital studio Project Director
Alexis Galbourdin BETC Digital studio Technical lead
Coralie Castot BETC Digital studio UI Designer
Florent Biffi, Damien Mortini, Nicolas Rollet BETC Digital studio Development
Haute - Original soundtrack
Published: March 2018
Synopsis:
BETC Paris and non-profit La Parole aux Sourds have joined forces to create Unsilenced, the first original song sung entirely through sign language and dance. The ground-breaking project appears at first to be a music video for an instrumental song; only when the viewer arrives at the end of the clip do they realize that the dancer they’ve been watching has actually been sign-singing the lyrics. The film’s powerful message – that it’s easy to miss out on everything the deaf community has to offer when we don’t speak their language – is meant to motivate viewers to learn the basics of sign language.
For more than 70 million deaf people worldwide who depend on sign language to communicate, the hearing world can be an unwelcoming place. Deaf people frequently express feelings of isolation and loneliness because so few hearing people speak their language. Which is why Parisbased non-profit La Parole Aux Sourds – whose mission is to build a stronger bridge between the deaf and hearing communities – partnered with advertising agency BETC to create Unsilenced, the world’s first original song sung entirely through sign language and dance.
On first viewing, Unsilenced appears to be a music video for an instrumental song. It’s only when viewers get to the end of the film that they discover the dancer they’ve been watching is actually deaf and that he’s been sign-singing the lyrics the whole time. Viewers are then invited to visit https://unsilenced.fr/en, where an interactive digital experience reveals the lyrics hidden in his movements. By “turning up the volume” on the film, users discover the message hidden in the
dancer’s signs.
The track for Unsilenced was composed through a unique collaboration between electro-pop band Haute and deaf dancer Billy Read. Read, who lost his hearing at the age of 3 due to a severe case of otitis, worked with the band to write and translate the song’s lyrics into sign language and dance through the help of an interpreter.

Synopsis
Though more than 70 million people around the world depend on sign language to communicate, most of us can’t even recognize the most basic signs, leaving deaf people completely isolated from their neighbours, colleagues and acquaintances. Our brief was to help French non-profit La Parole aux Sourds (which roughly translates to “A Microphone for the Deaf”) direct hearing people to a website where they could enroll in sign language classes. Importantly, we didn’t want to make hearing people pity the deaf; we wanted to inspire them to learn sign language by showing them what they were missing.

Strategy
Language creates a wall that isolates the deaf from the hearing. In order to break that wall, we needed to convince the hearing community that sign language was a rich and beautiful language, and that it was the key to unlocking a world of unique and interesting voices. We decided to create a music video precisely because “singing” is something most people assume can’t be done through sign language. By hiding our message in a dance, we brought attention to just how little the average person knows about sign language, and how easy it is to overlook a language that’s all around us. The message itself told people exactly what it felt like to suffer from isolation and pushed them to get involved.

Relevancy
In order to help bridge the gap between the deaf and hearing communities, we created Unsilenced: the first original song composed to be sung entirely through sign language and dance. Though at first, the film appeared to be a stylish music video for an instrumental song, when viewers arrived at the end, they realized that the dancer they’d been watching had been singing in sign language the entire time. Viewers were then directed to an interactive website where they could “unsilence” the lyrics and reveal the powerful message hidden in the words.

Outcome
With no paid media, the video received an aggregate of over 1 million views – through various media channels and thanks to two weeks of free media in cinemas - and 25 million media impressions, with press coverage from across France, including TV interviews on French channel LCI and Belgium’s La Une. The PR is valued at more than $500k in earned media. Additionally, the video was nominated at the Berlin Music Video Awards, the Krakow Film Festival, and Spain’s Promofest. As a result, traffic to the La Parole Aux Sourds website increased by 247%, with an average visit time of 2:45. Donations went up a staggering 2300%, which enabled the organization to launch its first sign-language course. The inaugural session is already fully booked.

Execution
The music video and website were launched on March 7, 2018. With no paid media, the project relied on a surgical PR strategy and good word of mouth in order to ensure a successful roll-out. We tapped influencers and seeded the story with the deaf, music and advertising communities using custom press kits and graphics. Compelled by the campaign, France’s largest chain of cinemas, MK2, offered two weeks of free media, screening the music video before films in all of their theatres.

Campaign Description
Unsilenced is the first original song sung entirely through sign language and dance. Though at first, it appeared to be a stylish music video for an instrumental, electro-pop song; by the time the viewer arrived at the end, they realized the dancer they’d been watching had been singing in sign language the entire time. From there, viewers were directed to an interactive website where they could “unsilence” the lyrics and reveal the powerful message hidden in the words.