Innovative protoype and campaign scoops gong
National sight loss charity, RNIB, has won a prestigious Bronze Cannes Glass Lion Award for its 'Design for Everyone' campaign.
To front the campaign RNIB created a prototype of the world’s first accessible pregnancy test to help people understand the emotional impact of inaccessibility.
The award was made in the face of competition from such world-leading brands such as Nike, Google, Unilever and Santander.
Lorna Forbes, RNIB's head of brand engagement, said: "Too often accessibility is an afterthought in the design of products and services, leaving blind and partially sighted people, and many other groups, excluded. This campaign was about showing the world that accessible design matters - and proving it was possible.
"Over five million pregnancy tests are sold in the UK each year, but not one is accessible for blind people, who need the help of another person to read them their results. This means their most private information is made public and they are never the first to know about their own bodies.
"This is a highly emotional and potentially life-changing moment made more difficult - and in some cases traumatic - due to the lack of accessible design."
To promote its accessible pregnancy test, RNIB produced a film and provocative media campaign that dramatised the lack of privacy afforded to blind people, as well as wider personal issues affected by inaccessible design.
Despite a crowded Covid news-cycle, the campaign won widespread mainstream media coverage with a 2.67 billion reader and viewership and a social media reach of 23.47 million.
In February, RNIB was named winner of the ‘Innovation: Best COVID-19 Support Project’ category for its ground-breaking work with the UK’s mainstream supermarkets that enabled thousands of people with sight loss to access their food and essentials.
This year, RNIB also won a Clio Award - which recognises brands for their innovation and creativity - for its 'World Upside Down' campaign, which highlighted the impact of the covid lockdown.
