Haleon's Audio First Campaign Makes Health Products More Accessible for Blind People

Haleon, a global leader in consumer health, and Microsoft Corp. have announced a new collaboration to make everyday health more accessible for people who are blind, have low-vision or have difficulty with reading the labels of products due to low literacy. Together, the companies have expanded functionality in the Microsoft Seeing AI app to provide more detailed labelling information for consumers for Haleon products across the UK and US. Seeing AI is a free mobile app designed to narrate the world for the visually impaired community. 

In the UK, more than two million people are living with sight loss and 8.5 million people have very poor literacy skills. In an independent study of visually impaired people commissioned by Haleon, 93% of respondents said they don’t feel health products are accessible enough and almost one in five may have taken the wrong dosage as they couldn’t read the packaging effectively. The collaboration is the first step in  driving health inclusivity for this community and will empower millions to be able to easily listen to the  labels on leading everyday healthcare products such as toothpaste, vitamins, and pain relief.  

The collaboration is supported by an extensive above-brand consumer campaign in the UK that demonstrates how Haleon is committed to championing health inclusivity. 

Tamara Rogers, chief marketing officer at Haleon said: “Helping people access vital information on our products is one of our first initiatives on our journey to making everyday health more inclusive for all. Many people living with vision loss in the UK face challenges when self-administering medications. You always get told to follow the instructions, but what if you can’t read them? That sparked us at Haleon to create the ‘Always Read the Label’, campaign, which highlights this issue. The campaign and Seeing AI is about empowering this community to be able to better care for their own health, independently without assistance.” 

‘Always read the label’ is designed to drive dual engagement by being inclusive to blind and partially sighted audiences whilst driving mass awareness with a sighted audience, especially for those that might have trouble reading or know someone who does. The campaign is audio first, to ensure it is inclusive, with a light-hearted tone to convey a positive up-lifting message to ensure people would take notice and become aware of a solution, not just a problem.  

It centres on communicating the news that the Haleon product range in the UK now has accessible labels via the existing barcodes that can be scanned and read aloud with the Microsoft Seeing AI app. The campaign features a catchy song to tell the story with Haleon famous brands turned into friendly characters to sing the message.  

The multi-channel campaign launches on the 3rd November and will include an iconic 60 second TV spot, which will debut across channels including ITV1, Channel 4 and Sky.  

The central creative process and strategy was led by WPP with Grey New York crafting the creative and Hill+Knowlton Strategies managing PR which includes video content with celebrity ambassador Amar Latif  to tell the human story behind label accessibility and an audio press release. Publicis Media supported with the creation of a media plan, including working with several blind influencers. The campaign was directed by Conor Finnegan with live-action direction by Adam Morse, an international award-winning  filmmaker from London who is registered as blind. Adam’s involvement was key to ensure that the creative  would resonate with the blind and partially sighted community.