HUAWEI FACING EMOTIONS

TitleHUAWEI FACING EMOTIONS
BrandHUAWEI
Product/ServiceMATE 20 PRO PHONE
Category B02. Mobile Apps
Entrant DIGITAS POLAND Warsaw, POLAND
Idea Creation DIGITAS POLAND Warsaw, POLAND
Additional Company HUAWEI Warsaw, POLAND
Credits
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.