2017 Winners & Shortlists

SPUBLE

BrandSPUBLE
Product/ServiceTHE APP THAT CREATES REAL LIFE SPEECH BUBBLES
EntrantMEMAC OGILVY & MATHER Dubai, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
CategoryMobile Apps
Idea Creation MEMAC OGILVY & MATHER Dubai, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
Production MEMAC OGILVY & MATHER Dubai, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
Additional Company MINDHYVE Dubai, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

The Campaign

Wouldn’t it be great if every day life came with subtitles? To bring Bett (91) back into the conversation, we invented ‘Spuble’. Spuble uses speech to text technology to create real life speech bubbles. The user talks into the mobile device and the words appear on screen instantly. The user holds the screen up to the hearing impaired person for them to read like live subtitles. The UI was designed in such a way that Bob (96) could use it intuitively. The fonts and colours were carefully considered and designed to stand out from afar making the speech bubbles easy to read for elderly people. Mobile phones and tablets allow people to communicate to each other on opposite sides of the world. Using a mobile device, we enabled a 2-way conversation for the first time in 10 years between a husband and wife who have been married for 70 years.

Creative Execution

After successfully trialling spuble with Bett and Bob we sent the app to a range of companies and charities to use. We then created a short film which was seeded online in order to spread the word around the world and help as many people as possible. Results: Although Spuble was inspired by and designed for Bett and Bob, we made it free for anybody to download and use. Spuble has been downloaded thousands of times around the world and every month this is increasing, from Australia to France, the UK and Canada. Spuble has also been adopted by O2 UK for specialist visual & hearing impairment training. After receiving such positive feedback from all over the globe, we are planning to make spuble 2.0 available in a number of languages in order to help as many people as possible.

Although Spuble was inspired by and designed for Bett and Bob, we made it free for anybody to download and use. Spuble has been downloaded thousands of times around the world and every month this is increasing, from Australia to France, the UK and Canada. Spuble has also been adopted by O2 UK for specialist visual & hearing impairment training. After receiving such positive feedback from all over the globe, we are planning to make spuble 2.0 available in a number of languages in order to help as many people as possible.

Hearing loss is widespread – it affects 10 million people in the UK and as our society ages, this number is set to grow: current predictions are that by 2031 there will be more than 14.5 million people with hearing loss in the UK (Action on Hearing Loss, 2011) Age-related damage is the single biggest cause of hearing loss. (AoHL, 2011) This means that older people are very likely to experience hearing loss alongside other long-term conditions – such as dementia. Knowing that Bett’s condition of Dementia and hearing loss is becoming increasing common among elderly people we wanted to do something to help her with the aim of helping others too. By observing Bett keep in touch with the world through reading her daily newspapers and the subtitles on TV, we came up with an idea to help her and others like her.

Credits

Name Company Role
Ramzi Moutran Memac Ogilvy Dubai Executive Creative Director
Gary Rolf Memac Ogilvy Dubai Group Head Senior Art Director
Gary Rolf Memac Ogilvy Dubai Designer
Gary Rolf Memac Ogilvy Dubai Copywriter
Shawn Frank Mindhyve Head of Digital
Links
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