Deaf Awareness Week runs every May in the UK to raise awareness of the challenges of deafness and hearing loss faced by around 9 million people.

Unfortunately, much activity goes unnoticed by those not directly affected.

Aldi, a long standing supporter of the charity, wanted to help boost the nation’s understanding. 9 million people also happens to be the number of viewers watching each episode of ‘Coronation Street’. (A show with fifty years’ history, reflecting everyday life in the UK.)

Every ad on British TV is unsigned. We needed to somehow bring together clients, media and creative agencies, to encourage them to, effectively, hand over their existing advertisements for us to ‘sign’ them. This collaboration ultimately included:

Microsoft, Gaviscon, Nurofen, Matalan, Velux, WeBuyAnyCar and Moneysupermarket.

All credit to these advertisers and their agencies in helping us make this happen.

A mother and her young daughter sit together in a kitchen. Two packs of fish fingers are shown on the table top: one pack is Birds Eye, the other is Aldi’s own brand. As the girl eats a fish finger or two, she explains she likes both brands. The mother playfully tells her “not to talk with her mouth full”. The whole scene is played out in silence as both mother and daughter are deaf. Captions show the entire conversation.

The commercials then following are all signed by the mother or the daughter in the Aldi advert. Finally, there is a closing ad where the mother and daughter ‘sign off’.