Other ways to Listen

Title: Our Language

Insight: The gradual loss of hearing often means adopting compensatory strategies for the absence of auditory input. People experiencing hearing-loss can find themselves looking out for information they would have previously heard.

Idea: This is an opportunity for Boots to create a campaign that speaks directly to people who are gradually losing their hearing, encouraging them to book a hearing test.

Impact: The aim is to create an emotive reaction and empower the non-hearing community through imagery that is relatable, from their own experiences. Through the loss of hearing, new languages can be created.

We should work with non-hearing people to understand these experiences and visualise them for this campaign. We could partner with Boots Opticians, to create a partner campaign to reach people who are losing their sight. Boots opticians are so well trained in eyesight that they know exactly where to find you (e.g. at the front row seat of cinemas), before you know you’re losing your eyesight yourself.

A pair of shoes left by the door (someone came home, you didn't hear them), a focused shot on hand gestures (to take information out of an unhearable conversation), a Sorry you were out delivery card, and a missed call notification. They're all small, domestic moments where sound would have been the cue, and the image becomes the substitute language.

I notice the channels other people miss because I had to learn other ways to listen. You learn to read shoes by the door, the landline left hanging in the corridor, the cup left in the sink. This campaign is about that language — the one people develop when a primary channel goes quiet. Which is why I felt drawn to creating this concept for the non-hearing community when we received this brief at VML.