Title	HUAWEI FACING EMOTIONS
Brand	HUAWEI
Product/Service	MATE 20 PRO PHONE
Category	B02. Mobile Apps
Entrant	DIGITAS POLAND Warsaw, POLAND
Idea Creation	DIGITAS POLAND Warsaw, POLAND
Additional Company	HUAWEI Warsaw, POLAND

Name	Company	Position
Patrycja Lukjanow	Digitas	Creative Director
Kamil Majewski	Digitas	Creative Director
Dorota Pakula vel Rutka	Digitas	Art Director
Quentin Carenzo	Digitas	Copywriter
Szymon Peplinski	Digitas	Creative Technologist
Katarzyna Strachota	Digitas	Strategy
Izabella Rekowska	Digitas	Account service
Joanna Carbol	Digitas	Account service
Paulina Plucinska-Kedzia	Digitas	Designer
Weronika Siejkowska	Digitas	Designer
Olga Rukat	Digitas	Motion Designer
Pawel Samul	Digitas	Motion Designer
Katarzyna Kolakowska	Digitas	UX
Mariusz Czepiec	Digitas	Design Director
Marcin Filipowicz	tank	Director
Mateusz Skalski	tank	DOP Lighting Cameraman
Marta Gierej	Digitas	Agency Head of TV Production
Marcin Borkowski	tank	Producer
Sandra Zagórska	tank	Producer
Tomasz Bilecki	Ztudio&Burza	Sound Designer
Tomek Bujok	Digitas	Creative support
Ztudio&Burza Ztudio&Burza	Ztudio&Burza	Sound Studio
Matej Podobnik	HUAWEI	Huawei PR Director CEE&Nordic Regional Division
Ewelina Głocka	HUAWEI	Regional PR Manager
Milena Orlowska	HUAWEI	Huawei Regional Social Media Manager CEE&Nordic
Kamil Sikorski	HUAWEI	Huawei Regional Digital Director CEE&Nordic Region

Background

Huawei’s new flagship phone- the Mate 20 pro has the most powerful AI on the market. But although people were talking about the tech specs of the new device, the brand and technology was seen as cold and practical. We wanted to challenge the possibilities Huawei AI and see how it can be used to help improve the lives of those who could benefit from it most.

Describe the creative idea

Huawei Facing emotions - An AI powered app that helps the blind and visually impaired 'see' emotions by translating them into sounds. Facing Emotions utilises the Huawei Mate20 Pro’s powerful AI and camera to translate key human facial emotions into short unique sounds. Making it possible for the blind and visually impaired to have a richer experience when speaking face to face with others.

Describe the strategy

Every new Huawei flagship phones spark a lot of positive tech buzz, but for most premium consumers this is just technobabble. Let’s be frank – who, apart from techies, can get hyped about the world’s first Dual AI chipset, the key feature of the Huawei Mate 20 pro? For the launch of the Mate 20 pro we wanted to change the narrative and make it more human-centred. To do that we wanted to show that the new Huawei phone is more than just the newest gadget on the block. After all, technological advancement is truly impressive when it changes our lives for the better. Thus, we decided to show the capabilities of the Dual AI chipset by helping those, for whom the smartphone can play a life changing role – the blind and visually impaired.

Describe the execution

The Facing Emotions project began with intensive research and development to create the AI based technology. The AI was taught to detect the emotion of the face of the person with whom a blind user is speaking to, and then translate this emotion into a simple language of sounds. Effectively allowing the blind and visually impaired to learn to ‘see’ emotions. 7 universal emotions: happiness, sadness, surprise, fear, contempt, anger, disgust were selected as the most used, most necessary and most universally understood among various cultures. The app design, flow and user experience we created in direct partnership with the blind community who worked closely with the development team to create an app intuitive to their needs. The creation of the sounds representing each emotion were co-created by blind composer Tomasz Bielinski. The sounds had to be simple, easy to remember and non-intrusive when heard during a conversation.

List the results

The app was released globally on the Google play store in 21 languages. The campaign was picked up in international publications reaching over 36,6 million people and achieved over an 1,4 million dollars in earned media. The campaign met the main strategic goal of humanising the brand and its technology, and showing what it's AI could do in a human emotional way. It also met the goal of generating PR and talk-ability outside of just tech based media and in lifestyle, news and culture.