The Media Plan
The Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) had found success in its “#BeforeYouAsk” campaign seeking to change public misconceptions of the blind and partially sighted (BPS) community.
For Wavemaker UK, RNIB’s media agency, the challenge was to not just continue the work of that campaign but to go even further.
After all, research suggested that only two in five people in the UK feel they have a good understanding of BPS people.
So Wavemaker identified a target audience that it called “societal changemakers” — people who believe they have the power to shape the world but, like the general public, find it hard to talk about disability.
The agency thus enlisted the help (and reach) of LadBible Group for “Blind Hijackers”, integrating the authentic voices of BPS creators into popular LadBible formats.
Content included Toby Addison answering questions from the public on Honesty Box, a blind football lesson and a GRWM (Get Ready with Me) feature on LadBible’s female-focused brand, Tyla.
The core aim? “By placing accessible, experience-led storytelling at the heart of high-engagement social formats, the campaign encouraged sighted audiences to reconsider their assumptions and interact with BPS stories on equal terms,” said Wavemaker executive creative director Ann Wixley.
This involved tapping into the same passion points shared by the wider audience, encouraging engagement and relatability, and highlighting how BPS people are equals rather than different.
“Blind Hijackers” attracted over 300K engagements. In particular, those who consumed the Honest Box and GRWM content demonstrated a significant uplift in knowledge and perception of BPS people. For viewers of the GRWM feature, they were able to reference the innovative technology that was used in the video.
Notably, RNIB and LadBible’s ambition to improve accessibility went beyond content. As part of the campaign, LadBible introduced screen-reader compatibility, alt text and accessibility training for its teams to ensure the content it produced was truly inclusive.
This means that, as well as the content itself, “by strategically aligning on ambitions with LadBible and RNIB, we could leave a legacy of improved accessibility”, Wixley added.
