Quebec Foundation for the Blind

Research showed that the number one factor affecting quality of life for the blind is social rejection. To combat that stigma, PHD based its strategy on the insight that the best way to increase social acceptance was to have people experience the reality of blindness.

To accomplish that, they employed the element of surprise. Consumers would receive the foundation’s message where they least expected it – during television programming rather than in a commercial break. To be powerful, the concept needed a high-adrenaline environment where consumers would be greatly disappointed to miss the visual support of the television program.

In Canada, that meant hockey. PHD executed the stunt during NHL news coverage on French Canada’s most-watched sport channel, RDS. During primetime news, the TV screen blacked out while the sound continued to transmit as usual. After 10 seconds, a text appeared explaining that it was not a technical error, but rather a taste of what it’s like to be blind.

To avoid backlash, the stunt ran only once, with the agency team working directly from the station studios. It resulted in an increased number of calls for donations, as well as trade and mainstream press and a YouTube posting that became one of the most-watched videos in the Nonprofit and Activism category. The campaign was a finalist in the Public Service category at Cannes.