Will Goldivox be a Cannes Lions winner for VocalID and Saatchi & Saatchi NY?
(Ed. note: Who doesn't like a little prognostication for awards season? To that end, and leading up to our coverage at Cannes, we engaged ad schools and asked them, along with some of The Drum's editorial staff, to weigh in on specific creative, if it will win a Cannes Lion and, if so, which ones. Feel free to add your own comments and we'll see who is right at the end of the month.)
Recently, we shared the story about VocalID, a technology and platform that allows people to share their voice to help those who are unable to speak. This assistive technology is supported by creative from Saatchi & Saatchi New York in the form of a film, Goldivox, which followed the story of a little girl, who is able to speak and on the search for a voice that reflects her age. The video allows users to use their own voice to follow the story, using their own voice to showcase the tech and underscore the importance of helping people find a voice that is more natural.
“This was a very unique challenge that demanded a unique solution,” commented Jay Benjamin, Saatchi NY’s chief creative officer. “We hope this interactive storytelling experience will help people feel how powerful their own voice can be, and that they will be compelled to donate their voice through VocaliD or even spread the message to others who might donate theirs.”
The platform and project is ambitious in its scale and scope, but underneath it all is an important truth to those living without having their own voice.
“They're people, and they have a voice,” added Rupal Patel, chief executive of VocalID. “How do we make it so that they have their own voice because really we haven't really leveled the playing field until you give them a voice that makes them feel like a human being as opposed to just a robot, right? Seeing people with disabilities as fully human is definitely what's personal driving this. Everyday people don't even know that people with speech disabilities suffer or have to deal with this kind of technology. They just don't know. They don't meet them. They don't encounter them.”
This project is going for the Lion in Cannes — The Drum and a student at the School of Communications Arts 2.0 gave their thoughts on whether or not it will walk away with the hardware in the south of France.
Jess Goodfellow, reporter, The Drum
It is a charming but poignant campaign that raises an important issue in an emotive way. By getting viewers directly involved in the campaign, moving the story along with their own voice, it inadvertently lets viewers trial the product it is advertising, and that is a rare feat to achieve. I imagine you would be hard pressed to find people who reach the end of the interactive and don’t think about getting involved. It’s a wonderful product, based on an aspect of life many don’t think twice about, and the campaign gets that across well.
However, I’m not sure how many people would be able/willing to turn their microphone on to get involved in the interactive. It requires finding a quiet, private place, which people accessing the spot during office hours (I imagine many do) may not have. It also requires allowing the site access to your microphone, which in a world where headlines constantly read of data leaks and privacy intrusion, incites fear.
I hope that many who see this campaign do indeed get involved, but I imagine the many requirements hinder its completion. And if you don’t get to the end, you don’t see the call-to-action, so the campaign doesn’t achieve its objective. Or maybe I’m just being cynical.
Prediction: A+ for effort, B for effectiveness. That's a Silver in Cyber I think. The product itself should be awarded for innovation.
Seb Thomas, student, School of Communication Arts 2.0
I watched and interacted with the Goldivox video, having no prior knowledge of VocalID. My immediate reaction was 'meh'. The idea of 'pushing along' a preset, animated story seems like a bit of a hassle. Having said that, the potential of using the video as a vehicle to donate your voice, is an interesting mechanism. Overall however, I’m left more astonished by the statistics showing the quantity of voiceless people in the world, than by the video attempting to solve the problem.
Prediction: Might have a shot at bronze in innovation, film, and cyber.