General information
Sector: Charity
Media: Linear TV, VOD
Time period: October 2022 (2 weeks)
Case description
The Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) and Channel 4, in collaboration with Wavemaker UK, The&Partnership, and Studio Lambert, built a bespoke Gogglebox partnership for their new campaign, “‘See the person, not the sight loss”, to get people talking and to challenge misconceptions around blindness.
One of the biggest barriers blind and partially-sighted people face is the perceptions of the general public, according to RNIB. Creatively conceived and executed by The&Partnership, RNIB’s “See the person, not the sight loss” campaign centers around a thought-provoking film, telling the story of Ava, a fictional teenage girl who comes to terms with losing her sight.
On Friday 14th October, four of Gogglebox’s most-loved households reviewed and reacted to the RNIB ad, in a special 90″ co-branded ad that played in the show’s ad break. Britain’s favourite armchair critics responded to Ava’s highly emotive sight loss journey with their usual unfiltered emotion and empathy – from her initial diagnosis and despair through to her acceptance and optimistic future. They bring the subject of sight loss to a broad audience, making it a talking point for all of us.
The ad tackles several misconceptions around blind and partially-sighted people – highlighting that younger people are affected by sight loss too and demonstrating Ava’s passion for gaming, which continues after her diagnosis. The response from the Gogglebox cast reinforces this key message, with comments suggesting attitude and behavioural change as well as a clear take-out that they did ‘see the person, not the sight loss’ while viewing.
As well as the full-length film, the bespoke partnership with Channel 4 and Gogglebox includes 30” cutdowns aired across Channel 4 between 15th and 30th October. The shorter versions were also promoted across RNIB’s owned social media channels.
Campaign results
“We’re incredibly proud of this partnership which uses a much-loved Channel 4 show to tackle an important issue in an impactful way. Much like on Gogglebox, we look forward to people’s reaction to this heartfelt advert.” – Kirsten Gillard, customer and commercial leader, Channel 4.
“Partnering with Gogglebox is the perfect way to show how people from all walks of life can resonate and engage with Ava’s story. The reactions from the cast were everything we’d hoped for and highlight the importance of not defining someone by their sight loss.” – Martin Wingfield, Director of Brand, at RNIB.