Situation:

India has the world’s largest blind population (15 million) but lacks blind-friendly infrastructure. Getting hurt and bruised is a common occurrence for them. In the absence of any government legislation, there were no attempts made to improve inclusivity for the visually-impaired.

Brief:

There was no formal brief. The idea came out of the association that the creative team shares with the brand. As Savlon stood for inclusivity, the aim was to solve for a real need and cement Savlon’s position as an inclusive brand; one that cares for everyone.

Objective:

We wanted to make our Antiseptic bottle accessible to everyone, irrespective of whether they could see or not. The bigger goal was to promote inclusivity.

'Getting help after being hurt’ should be as easy as ‘getting hurt’ itself. With this as aim, Savlon modified and introduced its blind-friendly packaging, i.e., tactile, Braille script on its bottles of antiseptic liquid. By just running their fingers over the face of the bottle, the visually-impaired would be able to identify it quickly from the sea of other products in their first aid-box / cabinet. Hence getting timely help.

Reaching out to our core audience (the visually-impaired) was going to be a challenge. It was a hitherto unfamiliar group of consumers. Hence, we went all out across their existing set of touch-points and also leveraged the opinion leaders and groups for the visually-impaired community. The message relayed was that of empowerment and inclusivity – that visual-impairment was no more a hindrance in finding help when one needed it the most. This message was communicated across varied touch points – a dedicated radio station for the blind, national NEWS channel and TVCs. The fact that only blind artist was featured in the communication, across mediums added a lot of legitimacy to the entire initiative.

The campaign was launched on World Sight Day, 11 October 2018. A blind anchor announced it on a NEWS network. 2 print newspapers released a Braille version of their edition. A magazine changed its masthead and cover page into Braille. We also got coverage in ‘White Print’, India’s only lifestyle magazine in Braille.

To popularise the idea, we collaborated with ‘Radio Udaan’ - an online radio station for blind. And produced innovative radio ads that were placed right in the middle of the song, highlighting the suddenness of a wound. Radio Udaan reaches more than 100 countries and has a dedicated listener base of blind people. Interviews and mentions by Radio Jockeys started pouring in. National Association for the Blind, one of India's largest, endorsed the initiative. Soon inclusivity became a rallying cry on social media. Inspired by us, another FMCG brand has also introduced its range of blind-friendly products.

The idea was widely appreciated especially by the visually-impaired community.

Earned Media worth Rupees 15 million (USD 213,540).

Savlon Usage grew by 50%

Brand Recall grew by 9%

Usage for shaving grew by 11%

Usage for cleaning wounds grew by 11%

But the most important result, in just a few months after us, one of India's leading FMCG brands introduced their own range of products with Braille packaging.