Blogbook
MIFF 2018 is almost here! The Melbourne International Film Festival is running on 2 to 19 August, featuring films like Rafiki and Dogman. Looking forward to it! One Aussie film that we’re probably going to catch is The Island of the Hungry Ghosts, the feature debut by Gabrielle Brady. Via Screen Daily:
The feature debut of Australian filmmaker Gabrielle Brady is the latest in a long line of documentaries – Human Flow and Fire At Sea among them – to tackle the refugee crisis. An extension of Brady’s 2017 short The Island, Island of the Hungry Ghosts eschews the more raw and urgent aesthetic favoured by many of its antecedents for an altogether more lyrical and poetic approach to the subject. And this approach highlights not only the terrible reality faced by many, but also gently reveals the absurd cruelty at the heart of much of human behaviour.
Receiving its World Premiere at Tribeca before heading to Visions Du Reel for the European unveiling, the BFI / WDR co-production will undoubtedly prove to be a draw at documentary festivals across the world. The 2015 winner of the UK and Italy-based artist filmmaker initiative Feature Expanded is also sure to cast its net much wider, with its hybrid approach to the material (which encompasses both fiction and documentary as non-actors are used in real and co-scripted scenes ) and timely subject matter giving scope for an arthouse theatrical run in various territories.
Located in the Indian Ocean, Christmas Island is one of the last discovered places on Earth and is home to less than 2000 inhabitants; a heady mix of people with Chinese, Malay, Indian and Australian ancestry with the attendant varying religious beliefs and customs. This slice of Australian territory is also home to the Christmas Island Immigration Reception and Processing Centre, a detention centre for more than 800 asylum seekers looking to enter Australia.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttlwj-mf40c
This bizarre and controversial 7-Eleven ad has annoyed Norway’s tourism board and received shoutouts from the comedian John Oliver. Via Quartz:
A TV ad and posters show a young Norwegian couple in front of the country’s famous scenery of mountains and fjords—but the message is a warning to use protection to avoid spreading STDs. It also greets tourists as they arrive at Oslo’s central station.
Calling it a “disaster” and “not a good advert for Norway,” Stein Ove Rolland from Visit Norway told Dagbladet (link in Norwegian) that the message “makes Norwegians seem like uncouth, lewd, sex-mad people.”
But sexual health NGO Sex og samfunn said chlamydia was rife in Norway—over 26,000 cases of chlamydia were diagnosed in 2016—as locals “are not good at using condoms.”
7-Eleven is standing by its posters, which it says are an attempt to increase awareness and get people talking about the problem.
In 2015, a study of Google searches by British health and beauty retailer Superdrug revealed that Norway was a “herpes hotspot” of sorts.
Norway also proceeded to release the 2017 chlamydia numbers for the country, which, depending on how you look at it, was a pretty funny and/or defensive way to respond to the ad, given it was mildly terrifying.
My cat is a purebred Birman, a fluffy fur-shedding machine created to have the temperament and self-preservation instincts of a soft toy. A year ago he ate an unknown substance that gave him acute pancreatitis. After several vet visits, a large bill, and an absolute refusal to switch to a fresh meat diet to save his own life, he was prescribed one of those depressing hypoallergenic soy-based vet diets. Yes, a sad fate for a creature that’s meant to be a hypercarnivore, whose distant ancestors were presumably gigantic and saber-toothed. These overpriced bags are only available online from a couple of venues. I order a couple of bags, cursing my cat all the while. Deciding to read something funny online to feel better about how the cat had effectively doubled his expenses for the near future, I notice that all the banner ads I see are from the petfood site. Which I just left. After already buying stuff.
This is Why People Have Ad-blockers
It hasn’t been a good year for Big Data. Programmatic may still be the biggest thing in digital, but the series of scandals this year isn’t a good look. Mark Zuckerberg had to face the admittedly ineffective US Congress over Facebook’s data practices, after it was alleged that Russia had purchased ads extensively on its platform to target varying American voters, spreading misinformation and possibly contributing to the election of Donald Trump. Zuckerberg’s response went from denial to acceptance of reality to a statement that Facebook is now in an ‘arms race’ with Russia. During the Senate hearing, Zuckerberg said:
- “It’s clear now that we didn’t do enough to prevent these tools from being used for harm”
- “In retrospect it was clearly a mistake” to believe Cambridge Analytica deleted data, without further examination
- He does not “feel like” Facebook has a monopoly
- That there would always be a free version of Facebook, leaving open the possibility of a paid, ad-free version of the social network
- Dealing with hate speech automatically has “a higher error rate than I am happy with”
- He was personally concerned about the possibility of political bias at the company
The privacy scandals have only continued. Tutorials about how to go incognito online, or erase your browsing footprint for advertisers, or quit Facebook altogether are now ubiquitous. We have to admit, we don’t blame people. Some of the articles that come up are downright 1984-esque. Like the apps that listen in through your smartphone’s mic to track TV viewing:
There may be a reason why that ol’ “Facebook is listening to you talk” conspiracy theory refuses to die – and not just because Facebook’s ad technology has gotten so good, it’s downright creepy. As it turns out, some apps are actually listening. Well, kind of! According to a recent report from The NYT, a number of apps using software from a company called Alphonso use the smartphone’s microphone to listen for audio signals in TV ads and programs, then sometimes even connect that data with places you visit or the movies you go see.
The NYT’s report found that over 250 games using Alphonso software were available in Google Play, and some were also found in Apple’s App Store. Some of the apps were games and others were aimed at children.
Oops. Maybe the memes were right. Not so much that there’s a dedicated FBI agent staring out at you through your webcam–we doubt the FBI has the budget for that–but the surveillance stage is surprisingly (or unsurprisingly) commercial. Thanks to big data, companies like Facebook and Google already know more about you than your mother ever did. And if that doesn’t scare you, I don’t know what will. After all, misuse of programmatic tools is one of the reasons why we’re currently in the darkest timeline.
ICU Facebook
If you’ve been taking public transport around Melbourne you’ve probably seen one of Facebook’s attempts at a public mea culpa: their global “Here Together” campaign:
An 8-week campaign, it’s part of Facebook’s attempt to patch a PR disaster. Considering 310,000 Aussies possibly had their data improperly shared by Facebook during the Cambridge Analytica stoush, we’re not sure how effective a snazzy multiple touchpoint campaign is going to be:
“This campaign has been in the works since the beginning of the year and builds on Mark Zuckerberg’s blog post acknowledging that Facebook users want to spend time interacting with their families and communities. We also want to take broader responsibility for the issues Facebook has had this year,” [Facebook A/NZ head of marketing, Alexandra] Sloane told CMO.
“We spoke to Australians, we used a research partner to obtain consumer insights, and undertook both qualitative and quantitative research focus groups. We wanted to hear what the Australian community expected from us, and we wanted to show them that we understand their concerns and demonstrate action around those topics.
“This is a global campaign, but the message has been adapted for Australian audiences. We’ve also launched an Australian resource/landing page with information.
“It’s an eight-week campaign with broad consumer reach and educates Australian users about the platform so they can understand what changes we have been making. We are taking action around fake accounts, data misuse and fake news.”
Facebook doesn’t actually apologise for the Cambridge Analytica incident, and even sort-of portrays itself as the victim in the campaign despite having made $40 billion in ad revenue last year off the personal data it has on people. While the defensiveness isn’t new–check Zuckerberg’s original knee-jerk response to the crisis where he disavowed any responsibility–the campaign’s tone-deaf by any measure. Yes, Facebook still probably knows what you like to eat for breakfast. Yeah, it’s promising to do better… on something or other. Some days it’s tempting to run away from it all and live in the forest, like the Wilderpeople. Not that that ended well for Sam Neill or Julian Dennison.
Want to see something scary? Check this out. Google and Facebook definitely know way more about you than you think.
So What Next?
Things you can do as a consumer if this article has freaked you out:
- Go incognito. Everywhere. VPNs. Burner email accounts. Multiple passwords. Use browsers like TOR. Imagine yourself as a spy living in a hostile city-state that’s out to get you. Tinfoil hat all the way. Use burner phones. Run away and live off the grid.
- Too over the top? There’s some basic things you can do: try and opt out of data collection on Google, on Chrome, and on your phone, among other things. A brief (lol) Google search will serve you well there.
- Stay aware. Find out which apps track you–whether through a mic or anything else–and decide whether you need the apps in your life.
- Routinely check your social media account settings and trim out the apps/sites you’ve given access to.
- Routinely check the cookies you’ve allowed and delete those you don’t recognise. Alternatively, use extensions that clear out your browsing history/cookies/data on closing your browser.
Things advertisers need to be conscious of:
- Build trust in consumers through the quality and content of digital offerings. No scams, nothing dishonest.
- Don’t get creepy when designing creative.
- Don’t get creepy in programmatic/retargeting strategy. If the customer’s getting too targeted, to the point that they start to feel that an ad is following them around wherever they go, they might develop a negative opinion of the brand.
- Don’t buy other people’s personal data…
- If collecting personal data via a survey/opt-in/account creation, be respectful of the data. Someone out there opted to trust you with their personal information. Treat that trust with respect instead of exploiting it.
- Yes, there should be a strategy. Don’t have one? Give us a call, we’re always happy to talk strategy.
I’m in the snacks aisle of the Asian grocery in Melbourne Central. I love Asian groceries — the high-end Japanese ones, like the one on Smith Street, the Grand Central Station super-busy ones, like Great Eastern on Russell Street in Chinatown, even the dodgy dystopian car park vibe ones, like the no-name one on Little Bourke Street near Swanston. There’s inevitably stuff that reminds me of my home country. Rollercoaster chips, keropok, prawn crackers, strange brightly coloured jellies in plastic cartons, rabbit-branded milk sweets, those sweet red disc things, normal pocky, weird pocky… a well-stocked Asian grocery is a dimension-bending delight of a maximum amount of products stuffed into a minimum amount of increasingly inaccessible space. I’m not normally here on a weekday night though, save to maybe grab a drink on the go.
The break in the routine’s because of an escalating potato chips situation in the agency, an increasingly high stakes “Guess what flavour this is?” game in the creative department that’s only been played out of the chips available in the nearby convenience store. The weirdest flavour that’s sold in that store is Smith’s “Chinese Peking Duck”, which, in our opinion, tastes like overdone beef left out in the sun too long. (The worst flavour in the store is the Black Truffle, which just tastes like ash and chemical despair). “For really weird flavours,” I told my colleagues, “there’s really no beating an Asian grocery.” That’s why I’m here, picking out flavours off the shelf that I know I’m going to regret eating later.
Product branding on a shelf as densely crowded as an Asian grocery snacks shelf is a competitive struggle against futility. Cheese flavour? Please, people are more likely to just hop over to the Coles next door and grab some Doritos. Salt and vinegar chips? Vinegar’s a bit of a weird flavour to me when dumplings aren’t involved. Prawn? There’d be at least ten brands with prawn flavoured stuff, some of which are old brands that people grew up with and are most likely to buy (like Calbee). Still, there are ways to stand out among the noise, and to the credit of some Asian snacks companies, they don’t so much tackle the problem head-on as storm the beachhead with an all-guns-blazing assault on the senses.
Voted Off the Island:
- Yogurt Potato Chips and Cola Potato Chips, both made in Korea. Yogurt is actually a mistranslation — it’s clearly a Yakult-flavoured potato chips, less yogurt as a popular probiotic digestive drink in Southeast / East Asia which doesn’t actually work. We still drink it though.
- Pizza-flavoured potato chips. There were actually a few versions of this, I just chose the one with the black branding.
Honourable Mentions:
- Indomee flavoured potato chips. These are really weirdly salty. I bought them once, never again.
- Honey potato chips. Why.
- Various potato chip flavours whose labels I could not actually make out and so couldn’t risk poisoning the office with.
Is There Actually A Moral To This Story?
Friday morning. There’s a yell from the kitchen as someone unsuspecting tries the yogurt chips. I laugh at my desk, having tried one each of the flavours earlier. I had to purge the taste by eating a few fresh mandarins and drinking copious amounts of tea. “This is the worst chip I’ve ever eaten,” the art director declares, awed. “I could kind of see the logic behind a yogurt chip if it was Greek yogurt, but this is weirdly sweet and… just wrong.” The Cola chips had a similar response — weirdly sweet, with powdered Cola on top. “I would never have ever thought of a cola chip.” “This is just weird.” The pizza flavour was aggressively cheesy in a chalky way. Left to languish on the kitchen table, the chips prove to be an extended trap for the afternoon.
The thing is, I bought them precisely because they stood out on the shelf. Not just through sheer weirdness, but look at the simplicity of the Yogurt and Cola packaging. In a sea of chips packaging stamped with multiple fonts and weird photography contrasted with stark colours and retro outlined typography, the yogurt and cola stuff just stood out. That, and they were weird as hell. There are tasting / reax videos on YouTube. I first heard of the yogurt chips through a friend, who’d seen it on another friend’s social media. Good on them, I thought. If you want to go weird, go full weird. Stand out from the noise. And modern, (fairly) minimal design stands out on a crowded shelf when the competition’s been mired in the 90s and never left.
On further research, it turns out that yogurt flavour, strange as it is to us, is cultural. Pringles runs a yakult/yogurt flavour in South Korea. Yogurt-and-herb (non-yakult) flavours are popular in the Middle East, and large brands like Lays run those flavours. I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised. I’ve had yakult-flavoured baijiu at the Food and Wine Show after all, a really strong Chinese hard liquor. And Pringles also does run a cola flavour in — yes — South Korea. You might think that’s strange, but I think it’s weird that one of the most popular chips flavours in the UK is shrimp cocktail. That’s a weird 60s dish that I didn’t even think existed save in old dramas. It’s the favourite chip flavour of the British digital strategist in the agency, and she doesn’t even eat prawn or shrimp.
If your brand’s going international, it stands to reason that you should cater to the local market. Some brands like Kit-kat take this to extremes — Kit-kat in Japan has flavours that are Japan-only, and are often as weird as you can imagine. There’s been an attempt to run with this in other countries: there’s a Kit-kat shop in Melbourne Central that runs a lamington flavour, for example, with premium chocolate versions attempting to appeal to the hipster in many Melburnians. Successful? We’re not so sure. Nice packaging though.
The Moral Of This Story:
- Cater your product to the local market.
- One person’s weird chip flavour might be massively popular to others.
- Stand out on the shelf by being different.
- Great product design works.
Have a snacks brand? Want to have a chat? Let’s talk.
This adorable Aardman Animation short film titled “Stay clear, stay safe” is a cautionary tale about water safety in Canada. Via Adweek:
“Initially, we had this idea to tell a classic underdog tale about a little boy,” Meghan Kraemer, associate creative director at the Hive, which developed the campaign, tells Adweek. “At the end of the spot, in old age, he’d finally get his moment, only to be surprised by the perilous waters of the dam. It stemmed from learning that our target—in some cases, people who have lived around OPG dams for their entire lives—may have a false sense of confidence, thinking they can predict when the dam will open or have some sense of the danger before it’s too late.”
The creative team planned a live-action spot, and at one point envisioned a singing beaver as the star.
Ultimately, they chose to “tell a more insightful, meatier story” using stop-motion animation with a narrative music track, rather than going for quirky laughs or dark humor like Melbourne Metro’s classic “Dumb Ways to Die.”
“We thought about (fire safety icon) Smokey Bear as a reference for delivering an important message in a very approachable way,” Kraemer says.
Along with Smokey, the Hive drew inspiration from “The Fantastic Mr. Fox,” Portlandia’s “Rats” and Jim Henson’s “Emmett Otter’s Jugband.”
Felice Haymos, who designed characters for “Mr. Fox” and Wes Anderson’s recent film “Isle of Dogs,” helped bring Dammy and his furry friends to life.
Aardman Animation has been the source of many beloved stop motion classics, in particular the massively popular Wallace and Gromit series.
This viral ad for 28-year-old candidate Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez helped topple a powerful incumbent, causing one of the biggest political upsets in NYC. Via the Intercept:
Within a day, the video had over 300,000 views. It’s not hard to see why. The video is tightly produced, crafting a narrative about an organizer-candidate who has the same sort of working-class background that is representative of the majority of New York’s 14th Congressional District — the median income in the district is $53,512 — taking on a powerful incumbent backed by Wall Street dollars.
What you may be surprised to find out is that the video was produced not by Hollywood video production veterans or high-dollar political consultants, but by a ragtag pair of socialists based in Detroit.
Last year, Detroit-based Democratic Socialists of America activists Naomi Burton and Nick Hayes formed Means of Production, a media production company that works exclusively for the working class. (DSA has since endorsed Ocasio-Cortez.)
Both were veterans of other communications firms and were troubled by the fact that many of these firms worked both for progressive candidates and corporations working against the very same causes.
“It just didn’t compute to us that the same people creating working-class propaganda are creating essentially propaganda for corporations,” Hayes said.
“We did this, really, with the goal of building kind of an effective, functional left media structure,” Burton explained.
This Strong Black Leads “A Great Day in Hollywood” campaign by Netflix recreates an iconic photograph to celebrate its African-American leads. Via Variety:
Netflix unveiled a brand image spot during Sunday’s BET Awards telecast that highlights black artists who work for the streaming giant.
The spot dubbed “A Great Day in Hollywood” was inspired by the famed 1958 photograph “A Great Day in Harlem” featuring 57 jazz legends — including Charles Mingus, Thelonious Monk, and Count Basie — on the stairs of New York brownstone snapped by photographer Art Kane.
The Netflix spot from director Lacey Duke features 47 black writers, showrunners, actors, and producers. The plan for the spot and the image campaign stemmed from Netflix’s Strong Black Lead initiative designed to foster an “ongoing, intentional focus to talk authentically with the black audience.” A photo similar to “Great Day in Harlem” was taken earlier this month by photographer Kwaku Alston to commemorate the gathering.
The debut comes just two days after Netflix was rocked by the abrupt departure of corporate communications chief Jonathan Friedland for what the company described as his “descriptive use of the N-word on at least two occasions at work.” The “Great Day in Hollywood” spot had been in the works for months as part of the larger campaign to highlight Netflix’s track record of commissioning groundbreaking shows rooted in black experience such as “Dear White People,” “She’s Gotta Have It,” and “Marvel’s Luke Cage.”
“It was a pretty magical couple of hours,” Duke said. “All these amazingly talented, beautiful individuals in one space being supportive and just looking stunning together, all here to pull off this one-take wonder! (Actor) Alfre Woodard even lead everyone in an epic rendition of ‘Lift Every Voice and Sing’ before we started shooting. It was beautiful, and in a flash it was over. It was probably the most overwhelming two hours of my career. I was just so happy to be a part of history.”
Minecraft remains one of the most popular games in the world. Recently they’ve had an unusual real world impact – with coral reefs. Via the Minecraft blog:
To celebrate the Minecraft Update Aquatic (Phase One out now in several editions of the game, and in pre-release on Java), we’ve been working with several partners to help the real-world oceans, through Coral Crafters – our project to help coral reefs!
We teamed up with Rabahrex, Logdotzip and Stacyplays. They worked with their fans to design unique structures that help restore coral reefs in our oceans.
But why does this matter? And more importantly, how does it help the oceans? This video explains it better than I ever could! (which is worrying, as it’s my job to explain things…) How does this help the real oceans? Well, with the Update Aquatic, we’re filling Minecraft’s oceans to the brim with kelp forest, shipwrecks, deep sea trenches, fish, turtles, dolphins and colourful coral reefs.
In the real world, however, it’s the opposite: climate change, destructive fishing methods and pollution of the water are killing off our planet’s amazing marine life. Coral reefs, one of the Earth’s most precious natural wonders, are under threat.
Coral reefs are home to some two million species – roughly a quarter of all marine life. We’re only just unlocking the secrets of these amazing organisms, and yet the World Wildlife Fund estimates that nearly a third of coral reefs worldwide are already damaged beyond repair. If trends continue, we will soon lose 60% of the world’s coral in the next few decades.
Which is why we asked for your help – both with voting for the structures we’re placing underwater, buying this Aquatic Skin pack with proceeds going to The Nature Conservancy, and our recent coral-placing challenge!
Want to escape this dreary winter and flee to an isolated tropical island? You’re not alone. I’ve been day dreaming about reclining on a beach lounger, sipping mango smoothies and napping under the afternoon sun since the first day of June.
This is quite easy to do in 2018 – by simply browsing the world virtually: you can type in the name of a location and instantly have abundant amount of information along with photos online. Digital or television ads about tourism are displayed to their targeted consumers every day, plus the billboards, the flyers, the list goes on.
Old-fashioned travel brochures vs. Instagram
Way back when, travellers (or tourists I should say) found inspiration for a trip through those tempting phrases in travel brochures, such as “adventure is out there” or “let’s fly, fly away”. Then brochures became more and more photo oriented, packed with glossy, aesthetically pleasing pictures and, as a result, fuelling the travel bug in us all – even if the destinations felt unobtainable.
Fast forward and as social media flourishes, many are now getting their travel businesses off the ground with the help of Instagram’s beautiful feed and highly engaged audience. In fact, there are over 181 million posts using the hashtag #travel and 48 percent of users say they rely on Instagram to find new destinations. Unlike the flawless pictures in advertisements, we can have a more straightforward and realistic perception of the destination from pictures in Instagram, have an idea of what to do and what the weather is like at the moment. (Although the photos are sometimes ironically perfect under countless layers of filters……)
Partnering with famous travel bloggers on the platform is undeniably an influential avenue for marketers, as users boasting followers in the hundreds of thousands snap exotic scenery and successfully engage and induce envy in their audience.
A prime example is Murad and Nataly Osmann’s #followmeto Instagram project. Thousands of fans mimicked the couple’s photo on social platforms as soon as they made the very first post and uploaded more than 337,000 photos on Instagram with the #Followmeto hashtag.
For brands, that level of audience participation is invaluable.
Qantas, similarly, often repost photos taken by other influencers from their planes to promote the ease and enjoyment of travel that they offer, helping them gain more followers.
Brand differentiation
Living in 2018, we have new air routes opening, new hotels built, new planes capable of carrying more passengers and flying longer distances. It’s fair to say we don’t lack choice. So, the important question is how do companies stand out from the crowd?
Via Adweek:
Bruce Horner, head of media and alliances for the Travelocity brand, said this about the importance of identifying how your brand can influence customers: “Differentiation is not just about the product, it’s about creating a meaningful brand identity that connects and engages with consumers.”
Home away from home
Speaking of accessibility, I can’t avoid the mention of Airbnb when thinking about global accommodation. From bold interior design to inventive ways host’s present meals and snacks for their visitors, this kind of hospitality service offers an authentic local feeling, giving travellers a unique personalised experience and often an intimate connection with local culture.
You might be thinking of massive solidity and strength when a windmill is mentioned, but have you ever thought about live in one? Actually, a popular Airbnb accommodation is a restored windmill. Apart from its preserved features such as the upright shaft in the former mill and a giant spur wheel reminding visitors of the industrial past of Britain, it also lets them feel the rural charm of Kent countryside.
Fall off the grid……or not?
While some like to choose an accommodation that presents them feeling of home, the others see travel as an escape from their usual living routine. I’ve seen more and more people completely “exile” themselves in a disconnected travel destination, yes, solo travel is becoming a trend. In fact results from a survey conducted by MMGY Global showed roughly one in four people say they will go on a trip alone next year. Having had the experience to live a year without technology in a valley 400kms away from Melbourne, it’s understandable how this kind of digital detox can help to refresh and rejuvenate the mind.
On the other hand, there is still another divergent group of tourists who chose to be socially active no matter where they go. Take my auntie as an example, she has gone to Japan lately as thus all my social media platforms are filled with her posts: pictures of what she ate for lunch, places she stayed and highly specific descriptions of her everyday itinerary. She is even still the first person to like or comment other’s posts.
Travel is made easier and easier by the increasing advancement of technology, and hence marketing techniques have to always be updated in order to align with all these changes occurring around the world every day.
This has been a Year 10 Guest Blog by our fantastic intern Cathy. Best of luck for school and the years ahead!
BWM Dentsu Sydney has won a 2018 Grand Prix for Good in Cannes for its Project Revoice campaign for the ALS Association. Via PR Newswire:
The ALS Association today announced the launch of “Project Revoice,” an international initiative to help people with ALS [also known as Motor Neurone Disease] record their voices so they still use their “voice” after they lose their ability to speak. The new technology, powered by the Canadian company Lyrebird, can recreate high-quality voices with only a few hours of “voice banking.”
To demonstrate the power of this innovation, Project Revoice has given Pat Quinn, co-founder of the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, a recreation of his voice. Pat did not record (or bank) his voice before ALS robbed him of his ability to speak, but using footage from his many Ice Bucket Challenge interviews, Project Revoice was able to clone his voice. See full video here.
Quinn said: “This takes speech tech to a whole new level and means everything to how I communicate. I really didn’t like to hear my old computer voice, so I often avoided getting involved in conversations. This technology gives me back a vital piece of myself that was missing. After hearing my voice through this new technology, I was blown away! For patients to know that they can still speak in their own voice after ALS takes it away will transform the way people live with this disease.”