FORD
BRITISH SIGN LANGUAGE COVERS
Client: Ford UK
Agency: W+K London
Creative Directors: David Colman, Alex Sattlecker
Creatives: Winona Wee & André Mezzomo
Director/Editor: Yago Hunt-Laudi
Head of Bodega: Gabriel Marchi
Producers: Dom Felton, Hestor Manning-Marsh
Account Handling: Alice Shaw, Siham Zerkak & Jide Olaofe
Comms: Cristelle Fornesi
PR: Danny Hernandez
People love singing while driving, and it’s been part of pop culture for ages. However, the Deaf community haven’t been able to do that, until now.
We saw an opportunity to raise awareness for British Sign Language with the Ford Mustang Mach-E’s hands-free mode.
With the Ford Mustang Mach-E’s hands-free mode, now everyone can sing while driving — even the Deaf community. So we partnered with the British Deaf Association, UK's leading registered charity for Deaf people, to create Ford BSL Covers: a BSL cover of Express Yourself by British musician Labrinth, starring Deaf talents Charis Townsend & Lisa Kelly sign-singing in hands-free mode.
To further raise awareness, we partnered with BSL influencers to create additional social content encouraging their followers to learn the signs and share them with the world.
Ford BSL Covers not only highlighted the Mustang Mach-E's hands-free mode but also meaningfully brought attention to the Deaf community.
To represent the Deaf community authentically, we:
Through this, we reached 28 million impressions and 1.4 million engagements on social while internally, Ford has committed to more Deaf-inclusive policies.
We saw an opportunity to raise awareness for British Sign Language with the Ford Mustang Mach-E’s hands-free mode.
With the Ford Mustang Mach-E’s hands-free mode, now everyone can sing while driving — even the Deaf community. So we partnered with the British Deaf Association, UK's leading registered charity for Deaf people, to create Ford BSL Covers: a BSL cover of Express Yourself by British musician Labrinth, starring Deaf talents Charis Townsend & Lisa Kelly sign-singing in hands-free mode.
To further raise awareness, we partnered with BSL influencers to create additional social content encouraging their followers to learn the signs and share them with the world.
Ford BSL Covers not only highlighted the Mustang Mach-E's hands-free mode but also meaningfully brought attention to the Deaf community.
To represent the Deaf community authentically, we:
-
Ensured equal access to opportunities with an open casting call
-
Engaged BSL interpreters for every meeting
-
Had a BSL performance coach on set to ensure accurate signing
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Included a BSL version of our press release
- Shared learnings to inspire more Deaf-friendly shoots
Through this, we reached 28 million impressions and 1.4 million engagements on social while internally, Ford has committed to more Deaf-inclusive policies.
