COX COMMUNICATIONS | Project Convey | 2022
That Emoji Was Actually a Translator / Cox Communications "Project Convey"
AI turns the emotions on the other side of a video chat into a single emoji. Cox actually built this prototype for people with autism.
The problem
During the pandemic, staying connected with others shifted to video chat. But for people on the autism spectrum, reading facial expressions and tone of voice through a screen is difficult, making it hard to truly connect with the person they're talking to.
The insight
Research found that people on the autism spectrum have an easier time understanding exaggerated, simple emoji than complex facial expressions themselves. That led to a realization: instead of asking people to "read" emotions, why not "translate" them instead?
The idea
That's how Project Convey came to be. It's a prototype that builds sentiment AI into video chat, converting the other person's emotions into emoji in real time. Using voice pitch analysis and speech recognition technology, it reads three kinds of data—facial expression, what's being said, and tone of voice—and displays the result as an emoji on screen. The campaign shows documentary footage of people on the autism spectrum actually using the prototype.
What happened
The campaign won Gold and Bronze at Cannes Lions, and also took a Gold Pencil at The One Club. The technology and research findings have been shared openly with the community, as a call to other video chat companies to build on this work.
Afterthought
I love that this is an ad that actually built something, before doing any advertising. Emoji often get dismissed as trivial, but when they can work as a translator that closes the gap of "not getting through" for someone, that's a real invention. I hope we see more ads like this—ones that use technology to actually solve something.
Awards
- Cannes Lions Gold 2022
