Herbal Essences embraces audio assistance tools for sensory enhanced bottles

14 Oct 2019 --- P&G haircare brand Herbal Essences is set to introduce technology like Alexa and the Be My Eyes app to make its products more accessible to people with low to no vision. These audio assistance tools make it easier for visually-impaired consumers to browse Instagram, shop, shower and style their hair. Last year, Herbal Essences became the first mass hair care brand in North America to introduce tactile markings designed to help differentiate between shampoo and conditioner for those with a vision impairment.

Herbal Essences’ tactile marked shampoo and conditioner bottles were spearheaded by Sumaira “Sam” Latif, P&G’s Accessibility Leader, who has been with the company for over 18 years and is herself blind. Latif pioneered this effort to help low vision consumers distinguish between shampoo and conditioner products through the sense of touch, with raised stripes on shampoo and circles on conditioner on the bio:renew line-up.

Beginning in January 2020, all Herbal Essences shampoos and conditioners, such as the Hello Hydration, Color Me Happy and Smooth Collections, will have tactile differentiation to alleviate in-shower confusion and help consumers, especially those with low vision, confidently perform daily tasks.

This year, Herbal Essences is bringing help beyond the shower with technology that makes searching for products and shopping independently more accessible. The brand is introducing an Alexa skill and offers specialized help on the By My Eyes app.

Through audio assistance, the new Amazon skill allows consumers to ask questions about Herbal Essences’ products, ingredients and personal recommendations. The Alexa skill is enabled by saying “Alexa Open Herbal Essences.” Consumers can then ask questions such as “Alexa, what Herbal Essences shampoo is good for curly hair?”Herbal Essences' sensory enhanced bottles for the visually impaired.

The Be My Eyes app is a free service that connects blind and low vision people with sighted volunteers through a live video call. Herbal Essences’ has gone a step beyond with a specialized help feature that directly connects blind users with in-house experts to get assistance as they shop in-store, get ready at home or have hair care questions throughout the day.

“We get a lot of questions through the app about people’s appearance – do my clothes match, does my make-up look right, do I have any fly-aways? It’s great when we can have experts from a specific, in-demand field, like hair care, to provide an elevated level of service for our community,” notes Will Butler, Vice President Community for Be My Eyes. “We hope other brands will take note of this effort in making their products and themselves more accessible to this community in an effort to truly serve all consumers.”

Knowing most consumers use social media and websites as resources, Herbal Essences is also increasing accessibility for the vision impaired in these areas. The brand is partnering with blind YouTube star Molly Burke to collaborate on inspiring content related to overcoming daily beauty challenges.

“I’m excited to work with Herbal Essences to co-create content that will benefit my community and drive toward greater inclusivity and accessibility for all,” says Burke. “I know one of the most difficult things for me as a beauty and lifestyle creator has been finding products with cognizant packaging and designing a routine that works for me. I hope this content will serve as a helping hand for those who are figuring that out.”

In addition, the Herbal Essences website will be accessible for assistive technology users, such as screen readers, in January 2020. The brand’s Instagram page is also currently accessible for this community through Instagram’s Alternative Text feature, which utilizes Apple’s VoiceOver capability to allow users to listen to in-feed image descriptions.

An untapped market
P&G reports that there are 253 million people around the world who are vision impaired, yet only 4 percent of businesses are actively creating products with disabled people in mind. According to the UK disability organization Purple Tuesday, nearly one in five people in the UK have a disability or impairment and over half of households have a connection to someone with a disability. Their collective spending power – the “Purple Pound” – is worth an estimated £249 billion (US$321 billion) to the UK economy.

Last year, Kellogg partnered with The National Federation of the Blind in the US to introduce personalized “Love Notes” on Rice Krispies Treats so parents can share messages of love and encouragement with blind children in their lunchboxes. The “Love Notes” are an accessible version of the writable wrapper on Rice Krispies Treats and available in two forms: Braille stickers and re-recordable audio boxes.

This year, Kellogg's Rice Krispies Treats also partnered with Autism Speaks to create sensory “Love Notes” for children with autism to “express and receive love in their own unique way” during the school day. The Love Notes come in a pack with four heart-shaped stickers to match the space on Rice Krispies Treats writable wrappers. The sensory stickers feature soft, smooth and bumpy textures – including fleece, faux fur, satin and velour – that are designed for children with autism who respond positively to tactile experiences.

Edited by Joshua Poole