JFK UNSILENCED

Short List
TitleJFK UNSILENCED
BrandTHE TIMES/NEWS UK & IRELAND
Product/ServiceNEWSPAPER
Category A03. Technological Development
Entrant ROTHCO | ACCENTURE INTERACTIVE Dublin, IRELAND
Idea Creation ROTHCO | ACCENTURE INTERACTIVE Dublin, IRELAND
Media Placement THE TIMES/NEWS UK & IRELAND London, UNITED KINGDOM
PR THE TIMES/NEWS UK & IRELAND London, UNITED KINGDOM
PR 2 ROTHCO | ACCENTURE INTERACTIVE Dublin, IRELAND
Production CEREPROC Edinburgh, UNITED KINGDOM
Production 2 SCREEN SCENE Dublin, IRELAND
Production 3 ROTHCO | ACCENTURE INTERACTIVE Dublin, IRELAND
Credits
Name Company Position
Alan Kelly Rothco | Accenture Interactive Executive Creative Director
Stephen Rogers Rothco | Accenture Interactive Creative Director
Alan Byrnes Rothco | Accenture Interactive Executive Producer
Jenna Plant Rothco | Accenture Interactive Project Manager
Alan Kelly Rothco | Accenture Interactive Executive Creative Director
Stephen Rogers Rothco | Accenture Interactive Creative Director
Patrick Hickey Rothco | Accenture Interactive CEO
Paul Hughes Rothco | Accenture Interactive Creative Strategy & MD
Sally Oldfield Rothco | Accenture Interactive Operations
Jill Byrne Rothco | Accenture Interactive Director of Marketing
Shane O Riordan Rothco | Accenture Interactive Head of Design
Lauren McNinney Rothco | Accenture Interactive Voiceover Artist
Paul Power Rothco | Accenture Interactive Visual Editor
Richard Oakley The Times/ News UK & Ireland Editor
Chris Pidcock CereProc Chief Technology Officer

Why is this work relevant for Innovation?

‘Jfk Uncovered’ was a world first. The technology used in this project is today being used to help ALS sufferers keep their voice after the disease takes hold.

Background

Situation : The Times was seen as a paper with a narrow mindset. This wasn’t actually true. The Times prides itself on having many differing opinions and voices on any particular story. Brief : Help launch the Times ‘Find your voice campaign’ to its readers and potential readers around the world. Objectives : Reposition The Times as a paper that represents many differing voices.

Describe the idea

When JFK was assassinated on 22/11/63 he was on his way to give an important speech at the Dallas Trade Mart. Now, 100 years after his birth, he finally gets to make it. The Dallas Trade Mart Speech is a world first, an Ai audio speech made completely out of data from hundreds of archive recordings of old JFK speeches. This breakthrough technique involves smart splicing small phonetic fragments of speech - typically around 250,000 individual segments, down to 3 milliseconds in duration to allow JFK to finally deliver the best speech never heard.

What were the key dates in the development process?

The idea launched in March after months of painstaking technology experimentation & sound design.

Describe the innovation/technology

This breakthrough technique involves smart splicing small phonetic fragments of speech - typically around 250,000 individual segments, down to 3 milliseconds in duration. Combinations of sounds are selected and smoothed together by months of painstaking sound engineering.

Describe the expectations/outcome

Subscription requests = 17k Twitter reach = 51 million. Global Media Impressions = 1 Billion. Business impact - Every one of our rivals covered the story. (Guardian, New York Post, Daily Mail, Daily Mirror, Sun, Evening Standard, Washington Post, Independent plus hundreds of titles around the globe plus Tv, radio & online publications around the world - BBC, Sky, ABC etc). The tech used to develop this project is today being used to help ALS sufferers keep their voice after the disease takes hold.