Comcast Oscars Ad Depicts How A Blind 7-Year-Old Girl Imagines The Wizard of Oz

Comcast’s beautiful 60-second Acamdey Awards spot tells the story of Emily, a seven-year-old girl who was born blind, and what she sees and imagines in her mind’s eye when she watches The Wizard Of Oz.

Comcast’s team began by asking Emily to describe how she imagines the world of Oz and then the company built her imagination’s version using skilled set and puppet designers, software engineers and makeup artists.

The message behind the story highlights how Comcast enables people with visual disabilities to get more out of watching TV with its Comcast ‘Talking Guide’.

Two-time Academy Award winner Robert Redford delivers the end voiceover to the campaign’s central Oscar telecast commercial (including ‘Talking Guide video description),

The spot is further supported by a suite of online material and digital assets that fully explore the whole back-story.

These include online videos (hosted on the brand’s website and YouTube channels) introducing Emily herself and depicting her description of her Oz in far greater detail,

as well as a ‘Making Of’ webfilm,

This creative is the first major work from new Comcast ad agency Goodby Silverstein & Partners’ NYC office (GS&P) is an impressive blend of craft and emotion

A campaign hub at www.EmilysOz.com, developed by agency Huge, offers richer detail and additional information about the technology behind Comcast’s accessibility services.

The creative was also developed by the Comcast Accessibility Lab and it includes voice guidance and one-touch access to closed captioning to highlight Comcast’s commitment to helping people with disabilities enjoy entertainment.

‘We want to create opportunities for people who love film and television but who might not have the opportunity to experience it to its fullest,’ explains Comcast audience VP Tom Wlodkowski.

‘By bringing the talking guide to as many people as possible, we can help to bridge that gap and make entertainment just as compelling, captivating and fun for people with a visual disability as it is for anyone else.’

‘It’s the first big national spot to come from this office, and it’s great to have this work debut on a big stage like the Oscars. It’s a beautiful moment for GS&P New York,’ adds Paul Caiozzo, executive creative director of Goodby, Silverstein & Partners in New York.

‘It’s not often you get to do something that feels meaningful on a level far beyond advertising. It definitely shows how entertainment truly is for everyone.’

Comment

This spot is an engaging and powerful mix of emotion and craft,

Definitely a candidate for one of the most beautiful TV campaigns of the 2015 to date.

An impressive first outing for the brand’s new creative agency!

And it is a marketing initiative that has genuine synergies with its Academy Awards launch platform to boot.

The ad industry seems to have created a slang term for this type of relentlessly optimistic and emotionally upliffting approach to advertising that is built around some form of positive cause – ‘#sadvertising’.

The phrase has been applied to everything from Powerade’s World Cup ad featuring Nico Calabria,