Getting the Nation Talking... In BSL

Client: Cadbury Fingers

‘The fear of missing out’ or FOMO, is a jokey phrase used so much in conversation it now appears in the Oxford English dictionary. However, for the deaf community, it’s no laughing matter.

The frustration of missing out on conversations and human connections for this community is their daily reality. Cadbury Fingers’ new campaign called ‘Sign with Fingers Big and Small’, in partnership with the National Deaf Children’s Society, encouraged the nation to learn some British Sign Language to help include the deaf community in more precious shared moments. Our job was to amplify it through earned media We wanted the hearing community to genuinely experience FOMO and used a blend of popular culture with a dose of purpose to do so. Consulting throughout with a team of deaf advisors, we teamed up with the biggest deaf TV star of the moment – Tasha Ghouri fresh from the Love Island villa – and dropped some hotly anticipated relationship secrets to her 1.5m followers on social. The twist? The secrets were released using only British Sign Language (BSL) with subtitles subtly obscured, creating a rush of FOMO and frustration amongst her followers. Our ‘tease and reveal’ strategy was planned with military precision and as the angry comments rolled in, we watched our audience experience proper exclusion, just like deaf people feel every day.