After a not-so-joyful year, 2020's World Smile day means more than ever. 

And one thing we all know is that nothing makes us smile, more than seeing someone else's smile. But blind people don't see smiles so, they can't fully enjoy these shared moments. Coca-Cola wanted to remove this barrier, giving them too a reason to smile.

On World Smile Day, in collaboration with the Italian Blind and Visually Impaired Union, we wrote and designed special edition Coca-Cola cans with a collection of braille messages, turning a simple can into an unexpected smile. An inclusive and positive project, in line with the international #OpenLikeNeverBefore campaign, to show there's always another way to see things.

Everyone gets stiff and embarrassed when interacting with disables. So, for them becomes even harder to have fun and enjoy others people company. Coca-Cola, whose purpose is to uplift people lives, created this campaign to overcome this barrier and help everyone understanding that the only thing disables people need to be happy, is to not be treated like disables.

We started by organizing a series of meetings with the Institute of Blind people in Milan to understand the best way to bring them a smile. Together with their team, we wrote the lines to be placed in braille on our cans. Then, a week prior the World Smile Day, we organized our event where we surprised blind people with our special cans. The reactions were filmed and used to create a web video that we shared online during the World Smile Day.

The campaign was featured by all the major Italian newspapers. Even the President of the Italian Republic, Sergio Mattarella, officially thanked Coca-Cola and the Italian Blind and Visually Impaired Union for their shared commitment in overcoming barriers.

After the Italian launch, the project born for a local market, was selected by Coca-Cola’s international team to be communicated globally.