Learning articles
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RNIB's Accessible media services overview 2024
Read more about "RNIB's Accessible media services overview 2024"Media accessibility has seen significant strides this year, with broadcasters and platforms introducing new ways to make content more accessible for audiences with sight loss. From innovations in audio description to creative approaches in visual storytelling, these developments are reshaping how accessible content is delivered. This article explores key highlights, celebrates progress, and considers what’s next for accessible media.
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The ad accessibility conundrum: community perspectives
Read more about "The ad accessibility conundrum: community perspectives"Advertisements are the lifeblood of business. But what happens when they aren’t accessible?
Despite people with disabilities influencing over $13 trillion in annual disposable income for themselves and their families, advertising technology hasn’t caught up to adequately capture that spending.
To better understand how accessibility impacts advertising and broader social media use, Fable surveyed our community of assistive technology users to collect their sentiments and thoughts on this topic.
This article presents some of the qualitative and quantitative data uncovered in the hopes that it will aid social media companies, advertising organizations, and the broader tech industry to better understand accessibility from the perspective of buyers.
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Case study: La Macif
Read more about "Case study: La Macif"Macif has been subtitling and audiodescribing 100% of its TV spots since the launch of its new brand territory in December 2021.
For audiodescribed and subtitled advertising campaigns, Macif works with an association specializing in audiodescription and subtitling for deaf and hard of hearing people.
The brand shares the post-produced films, the association produce the audiodescription and subtitling, which are then validated by the agency and Macif, to be as accurate as possible.
Once validated, the audiodescription and subtitling files are delivered to the advertising agencies in the same way as the classic files.
For Sandra's PGI 23 film, a deaf member was chosen to bring on the screen the topics of disability and accessibility like to the insurance. The discussions with her took place via video conference, during pre-production, with an interpreter alongside the production team.
On the set, an interpreter was also present to translate. Sandra spoke in sign language, which was reproduced as is in the campaign.
Macif called on an association of deaf and hard of hearing people to check the translation into subtitles of the comments edited into the image, ensuring that her words were translated as accurately as possible. -
What’s New for Cannes Lions 2025?
Read more about "What’s New for Cannes Lions 2025?"Introducing an Excellence in Image Description sub category
We’ve introduced a new sub category that celebrates the use of image description and alternative text - i.e. text that sits alongside online image descriptions to help people with impaired sight visualise pictures. This sub category has been added to the Digital Craft Lions and the Industry Craft Lions to celebrate copy that elevates accessibility and user experience, while expressing creativity and brand voice. Work entered into this category should demonstrate impactful, finely crafted image descriptions that convey key information, evoke a mood and communicate brand essence for blind and partially sighted people. -
The Responsible Marketer's Guide To Creating Accessible Advertising Campaigns
Read more about "The Responsible Marketer's Guide To Creating Accessible Advertising Campaigns"1.8 billion people worldwide are living with disabilities – 1 in 4 people, many of whom have access needs that affect your campaign’s ability to be understood by them. Start developing accessible ads to reach more of your audiences and ensure no one is excluded from your messaging.
The experts at Responsible Marketing Advisory have created this action guide to provide advertisers and agencies with some quick wins to create accessible marketing assets and work with media partners to enable functionality and content that is accessible.
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Unsilence The Crowd - Sela x Newcastle United
Read more about "Unsilence The Crowd - Sela x Newcastle United"A first of its kind partnership between Sela, RNID and Newcastle United culminated in Unsilence The Crowd, a groundbreaking campaign, which delivered the world-first use of new technology designed to increase accessibility to football for deaf fans.
The impact of this use of breakthrough technology is already being seen throughout global football. The world’s largest football institutions including the UK Government, UEFA and FIFA accepted invites to travel to Newcastle to witness the technology first-hand. With every attendee giving rousing endorsement of the initiative, Sela are now working to ensure mass adoption of the technology across world of sport. The legacy is only in its infancy and there are already commitments from several major European football leagues to introduce the technology including: the English Premier League, La Liga and Serie A.
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Italy the first to regulate universal accessibility methods to advertising communication
Read more about "Italy the first to regulate universal accessibility methods to advertising communication"Advertising is communication: its contents guide purchasing behaviour, perceptions and experiences towards brands and institutions, and its messages mature within current market realities and respond to people's concrete needs.
The UNI/PdR 164 reference practice on Accessible and Inclusive Advertising, presented at the headquarters of the Italian Standardization Body, UNI, represents a concrete step forward in the field of social inclusion.
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Creative judging and accessibility lessons from the Cannes Lions jury room
Read more about "Creative judging and accessibility lessons from the Cannes Lions jury room"In advertising, awards are one way we measure success, and serving as a juror at one of the major shows is a career achievement. As the first blind Cannes Lions juror, it was an honor to be a part of not only elevating creativity among awards but also to be a part of more accessibility and inclusion in the jury room.
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‘The Power of Words’: Why words still matter…
Read more about "‘The Power of Words’: Why words still matter…"We have loved collaborating with the7stars and Walr to explore the recent explosion in the use of subtitles across video, social and other media.
We set out to explore:
To what extent are subtitles being used across media platforms, by whom and most importantly what is fuelling this growth?
Why are consumers increasingly using subtitles for video, social and even audio- led formats?
What are the implications for brands that are starting to use subtitles on their creatives?
We spoke to a nationally representative sample (total UK population) of 2,000 individuals using the Voices4all sampling approach (of which the7stars is a founding partner). This was augmented by 3 ‘lab’ test / control studies, set up to delve into the impact of subtitles on commercial brand KPIs. -
World Unseen - Canon inspires accessible photography designed for all
Read more about "World Unseen - Canon inspires accessible photography designed for all"Canon believes that everyone should be able to experience photography. But what if you can’t see it? There are 2 million people living with sight loss in the UK. When it comes to experiencing photography, they’re left in the dark.
Through its proprietary PRISMAElevate XL software and Arizona printer series, Canon is able to make photography more accessible for blind and partially sighted people through braille and tactile printing.
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Accessible advertising: a journey unfolding
Read more about "Accessible advertising: a journey unfolding"Two years ago, P&G – quickly followed by other advertisers – voiced its ambition to champion advertising accessibility, to leverage its brands and partners, and create a superior consumer experience for everyone. This call for industry-wide collaboration led to the creation of the Advertising Accessibility Alliance.
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Making mainstream TV ads work for blind and partially sighted viewers
Read more about "Making mainstream TV ads work for blind and partially sighted viewers"In recent years, numerous articles and guidelines have been published on making audio-visual ads accessible across various platforms, including linear TV and online.
One of the core principles of inclusive design is to consider accessibility from the outset. In the case of ads, accessibility should be factored in from the storyboard stage. While audio description is a widely used tool, it requires carefully timed pauses between the voiceover and any critical sound effects, making early planning essential for content as short as 30-45 seconds.
Ads that are audio-led can still be made accessible by embedding key information (product, brand, offers) into the narration and sound design. This approach particularly benefits online platforms, most of which don’t support secondary audio tracks. Without built-in accessibility, viewers who rely on audio description are forced to search for separate versions, leading to a poor user experience.
Co-creation has also been widely discussed but still lacks implementation in many workflows. Including blind and partially sighted people in focus groups and audience testing provides valuable feedback and enhances the overall accessibility of ads.