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News / 6 December 2021

You’re on mute


The curse words of video calls provided the idea for a microsite we built to raise awareness of DeafKidz International.

If there’s one phrase you’ve heard over the past year it’s “You’re on mute”. But if a brief moment of a video call can prove so frustrating, imagine being a deaf child in a developing country, where no one knows sign language, or even thinks you can communicate. Brand and communications agency Bold Space had the idea of using the video call curse during #deafawarenessweek to drive awareness of DeafKidz International.

We built the ‘You’re On Mute Detector’ microsite using a Chrome speech recognition extension. It identifies whenever the phrase is said and records how many times you say it, before prompting you to donate that amount on DeafKidz International’s JustGiving page. A 2021 swear jar with a purpose. The campaign drove a 1,257% MOM increase in engagements on DeafKidz International’s social channels, earned 416 pieces of media coverage and resulted in 21,000 engagements on influencer posts. So while you may be on mute, people are certainly talking about DeafKidz International.