How Toyota Replicated Visual Impairment in its Paralympic Campaign

Last month we reported on Saatchi LA and Dentsu's campaign for Toyota which focussed on the 2018 Winter Paralympics and, in particular, on visually impared Team GB skiier Menna Fitzpatrick.

The campaign used an Instagram account (@SeeLikeMenna) in an attempt to show people what Fitzpatrick sees as she hurtles down the slopes at speeds of over 100km per hour with only three per cent vision.

After Fitzpatrick's huge success at the Pyeongchang-held event, where she picked up four medals - including gold in the slalom, making her Team GB's most decorated winter Paralympian - we now hear from both Saatchi LA and the production company behind the films, Archer's Mark, about the processes and technology used to make the films that formed the campaign.

"We realised that the most disruptive place to tell a story about visual impairment was on a visual platform."

What was the brief that you received from Toyota?

Saatchi LA: As the Official Mobility Sponsor and the only brand ever to sponsor the Paralympics and Olympics equally, Toyota is on a mission to elevate the Paralympics in a way that had never been done before. They asked us to make work that would get people excited to watch the Paralympics and celebrate mobility on and off the slopes.

There are good days. And then there are awesome ones. Since I’m visually impaired, my guide Jen is always close by. Come with us and Toyota on our journey to the Paralympics! #seewhatisee #skiingvisuallyimpaired #StartYourImpossible
A post shared by Menna Fitzpatrick + Toyota (@seelikemenna) onMar 7, 2018 at 4:23pm PST

Why did you decide that a 360 film and an Instagram account were the best way to highlight Menna’s extraordinary achievements?

Saatchi LA: We realised that the most disruptive place to tell a story about visual impairment was on a visual platform. On a platform built for beautiful, artistic images, we made an account full of blurry ones. But we also knew that to fully grasp what it’s like to ski down a run with her vision, you might need a bit more help. VR has been described as an 'empathy machine', and getting to experience the sights and sounds she does as she goes down a run would help the user grasp the bravery of this athlete. Knowing most people don’t have access to VR yet, we felt 360 films would be the best way to reach a broader audience.

"It was so important for all of us on the creative team to celebrate Menna's achievements as a fully rounded individual who happens to be blind, rather than as a representative for all those who are visually impaired."

How important was it to get the Royal National Institute for the Blind and ophthalmic consultants onboard, and what advice did they give?

Archer's Mark: Having the input of the RNIB and experienced ophthalmic consultants was a game-changer. We were fortunate that many of these relationships were pre-existing due to our work on the BAFTA-nominated feature film Notes on Blindness, which allowed us the time to forge many strong connections between organisations and individuals within the blind community.

Certainly, one of the core insights which guided the creative was the fact that only 5 per cent of those registered blind actually have no light perception at all, and so each of the remaining 95 per cent see the world in a way that’s particular to them. Hence why we had to work so closely with Menna, her guide Jen [Kehoe] and the medical team properly to represent her worldview.

Aside from the impact this had on the medical consultation process [see below], this also rammed home the wider creative point that it is unfortunately still very rare to see blind protagonists in a leading role, and there is sometimes a tendency to see these characters as ciphers who need to represent the entire blind community. That’s why it was so important for all of us on the creative team to celebrate Menna's achievements as a fully rounded individual who happens to be blind, rather than as a representative for all those who are visually impaired.

Literally jumping for joy. #gold #silver #silver #bronze #Paralympics #Pyeongchang #skiingvisuallyimpaired #StartYourImpossible
A post shared by Menna Fitzpatrick + Toyota (@seelikemenna) onMar 24, 2018 at 2:04pm PDT

What technology did you have to develop to create the three per cent visual impairment filter, and how did you monitor that that accurately reflected what Menna saw?

Archer's Mark: The process of creating the three per cent visual impairment filter was pretty long and painstaking, and involved a huge amount of input from lots of different sources.

We had permission from Menna and the other athletes [Slovenia’s Maciej Krezel and Slovak athlete Marek Kubacka also featured in the 360 film] to share their medical records and visual field tests with consultant ophthalmologists who interpreted these results to create a filter that best represented their vision.

"Menna and Jen actually created a DIY version of a visual impairment filter, by taping up a set of skiing goggles which we could all wear to understand in rough terms how she saw the world around her."

Blindness is, of course, something that affects everyone differently and in Menna’s case she has bilateral severe visual loss caused by a condition called 'congenital retinal folds’. In Menna, this causes almost total blindness in one eye and a markedly constricted visual field in the other. She also has an extensive temporal defect and a small central area of poor quality vision.

As she was born with the condition, Menna doesn’t know how ‘normal’ vision is perceived so cannot have a complete understanding of how her vision differs. However, through further extensive work with both her and her sighted guide Jen we were able to get a better understanding of how she perceives her environment whilst skiing, and also on a day-to-day basis.

Menna and Jen actually created a DIY version of a visual impairment filter, by taping up a set of skiing goggles which we could all wear to understand in rough terms how she saw the world around her. This prop was a hugely useful starting point, and - when combined with input from our team of ophthalmologists - we were able to create a first stage ‘filter’. This filter was then cross-checked with Jen, who is the best sighted interpreter of what Menna can see on any given day on the slopes. It was also checked against the different conditions in which we filmed, as Menna’s eyesight reacts very differently depending on cloud cover, and other climatic conditions. After several rounds of back and forth between our post team, Menna and Jen and our team of consultant ophthalmologists, the visual filter was complete.