Microsoft and Haleon launch effort to help visually impaired people access product info

Haleon—the marketer of Advil, Theraflu, Sensodyne, Voltaren and more—is partnering with Microsoft to use the tech giant's Seeing AI app to make product information more accessible for people who are visually impaired. The launch, timed for World Sight Day on Oct. 13, will let people scan a product bar code using their phones to generate an audio guide with product information, instructions, ingredients and other key details. It covers 1,500 products in the U.S. and U.K. for Haleon, formed earlier this year from the spinoff of GlaxoSmithKline’s consumer health business. Subscribe to Ad Age Sign up now for the latest industry news and analysis Click here The launch follows a survey commissioned by Haleon that found around one in five people who are blind or have low sight have taken the wrong dosage of a medication because they couldn’t read the labels sufficiently. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, 1 million people in the U.S. live with blindness and there are 40 million people over 40 who have low vision. “We’re really happy to be able to access a technology that already existed for consumers who were blind or had low vision to allow them to listen to their labels,” said Katie Williams, chief marketing officer of Haleon U.S. To market the collaboration, Haleon is working with creators in the blind and low-vision community to build buzz, and starting in the first half of next year will work with retailers to “bring this to life in-store and online with a full platform of marketing activitation,” Williams said. WPP’s VMLY&R is handling the shopper marketing work around the program. While the effort is in keeping with Haleon’s purpose, it’s not just about doing the right thing but also likely good for business she said. “We wanted to make sure we did anything we could to reduce the barriers to accessing health care with [an app] that already had broad reach with the communities we want to serve.” The Seeing AI app was developed in 2016 by a team of Microsoft engineers led by Saqib Shaikh, who lost his sight at age 7. He said he got the chance to start the project when Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella gave everyone in the company a week to pursue a project of personal interest. The app is now available in the Apple App Store and is being developed for Android as well. “We call it a talking camera for the blind community, and that really means that, powered by AI, we can help people with everyday tasks,” Shaikh said. “Identifying what’s on the package is definitely an important one. But we also enable going through your photos, recognizing who’s around you, reading books and so much more.” Getting Haleon’s product catalog into the system wasn’t just a straight data dump. “We worked with Microsoft to enhance the experience,” Williams said. “So when people are interacting with our packaging, the experience is as usable and user-friendly as possible.” Accommodations in products, packaging and marketing for people with disability is a relatively new movement in packaged goods, and it’s not always as easy. Unilever began working with WPP’s Wunderman Thompson to test a Degree Inclusive line of deodorants for people with visual or upper body disabilities last year. While the effort won an Innovation Grand Prix at the Cannes Lions last year, the final product line has yet to roll out as Unilever works to change or add features based on input from test users. Ad Age Next: CMO Get your tickets for the Dec. 7 event in New York Register here

Microsoft and Haleon launch effort to help visually impaired people access product info

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