Case Study Video
The Challenge
Imagine having to shop without knowing what you're buying. This is the challenge faced by over 500,00 Australians every day. Shopping online and in-store can be a nightmare for people with blindness or low vision – especially at peak retail times such as Black Friday.
Less than 4% of eCommerce stores are accessible and if they do have accessibility features, they're really basic. The main reason for this is a bad or non-existent image descriptions, making shopping completely inaccessible for people with blindness or low vision.
The Idea
Highlighting this issue with a traditional approach wouldn’t drive change. We needed to show our audience exactly how difficult online shopping is by bringing to life one of the biggest barriers that people with low vision or blindness face: poor production descriptions.
We hijacked the Black Friday sales period and created an immersive experience that exposed the harsh realities of inaccessible online shopping – Blackout Friday, the only store in Australia that doesn’t let you see what you’re buying.
How It Worked
For three days over the Black Friday weekend, we invited customers to shop a curated collection of pre-loved items supplied by fashion marketplace UTURN.
The catch? All items were hidden in black packaging that displayed only limited description of the products, like ‘cool hat’ or ‘colourful shorts’. This led to an 'ah-ha' moment for sighted people when they opened the box to discover the product inside was very different to what they'd imagined it would be.
We closed the loop for by showing shoppers what good product descriptions look like and how easy it is to make online and in-store shopping inclusive and accessible – with just a bit of extra effort.
Packaging Design and Store Merchandising
The product packaging had minimal information and a QR code that took readers to a poorly written audio description – how someone with blindness or low vision learns about a product shop online.
Messaging throughout the store promoted shoppers to recognise the difficulty of buying something you can’t see. We then showed customers how a well-written product description can benefit everyone and why we must push for change.
Education & Advocacy
We rounded out the experience by showing customers the correct way to make online shopping accessible with examples of good image description. We demonstrated best practise on packaging along with a QR where you could listen to the audio description - the way someone with blindness or low vision learn about a product shop online.
We then linked them to tools to help them create more accessible eCommerce sites. Accessible eCommerce Guidelines and brands were also invited to participate in Guide Dog’s digital accessibility training as the next step in breaking the barrier.
Coverage
The campaign struck a chord amid the retail frenzy of Black Friday, with hundreds of shoppers coming through the store, over 100 editorial hits. And sparked a meaningful conversation about the importance of making online shopping accessible for everyone.
The Results
This earned creative idea was the perfect juxtaposition to the retail frenzy of Black Friday, and both the media and consumers lapped it, up with over 400 shoppers visiting the store.
18.7 Million Earned Media Reach
250+ Products Sold
100+ Editorial Hits
58% Increase in Brand Awareness
In addition to the earned attention, over 60 brands signed up to the follow-up digital accessibility training. And more importantly, the activation sparked a meaningful conversation with brands and consumers about the importance of accessible online shopping.