Snap Partner Summit revolves around the unveiling of emerging advancements in Augmented Reality (AR) tech and how that tech applies to all Snapchatters. So in 2022, we wanted to highlight the advancements made specifically for the Deaf community. We worked with a team of Deaf engineers to tell the story of how they created an AR Lens that teaches anyone the ASL alphabet, and eventually full words and phrases.
Then something serendipitous happened. In the middle of our working sessions, CODA, a film about a Deaf family, was nominated for three Oscars. We found ourselves thinking that this would be a great moment to show the human side of the tech while the world was celebrating a human story about life in the Deaf community.
So we hustled and put our brains together and over the course of two weeks, we wrote, produced and shipped a spot specifically made for CODA and for the Oscars. The ad ran in the break right before CODA’s Best Picture win. And we got a shout-out from Oscar winner and one of the film’s stars, Marlee Matlin.
Credits: Creatives: Ben Tolbert, Jordan Stone, Dan Hall, Malissa Johnson, Oscar Martinsson | Producer: Jackie Fuhrman | Directors: The Mercadantes
Credits: Creatives: Ben Tolbert, Jordan Stone, Dan Hall, Malissa Johnson, Oscar Martinsson | Producer: Jackie Fuhrman | Directors: The Mercadantes
Credits: Creatives: Ben Tolbert, Jordan Stone, Dan Hall, Malissa Johnson, Oscar Martinsson | Producer: Jackie Fuhrman | Directors: The Mercadantes
This video was part of Snap Partner Summit 2022. It explains the finger-spelling Lens and its importance all from the point-of-view of the engineers who developed it.
Credits: Creative Leads: Ben Tolbert, Malissa Johnson | Producer: Jackie Fuhrman | Director: Christian Padron
As a final push, we created a sticker pack exclusively for the launch of the ASL Lens and coinciding with CODA’s Academy Awards that could teach Snapchatters some easy ASL phrases.
