Canon is a world leader in imaging equipment – from professional cameras and lenses to printers and medical devices. And while many are aware of the brand and its reputation, fewer understand its values and purpose, brand insights revealed.
To address this challenge, Canon wanted the world to see and feel the impact of its technology – and understand its belief that everybody should be able to experience photography.
World Unseen is a campaign that tests that belief: a photography exhibition series for blind, partially sighted, and sighted people, online and around the world.
The exhibition launched at Somerset House in London, April 2024, in partnership and collaboration with the RNIB. It presented 15 world-class photographs, obscured by visual impairment simulations and brought to life new, more accessible ways: through immersive soundscapes, audio and braille descriptions, and lifelike tactile photography, made possible by Canon’s proprietary print technology.
The project has since toured internationally, reaching over 40,000 visitors to date, sparking vital conversations about accessibility and inclusion. 84% of exhibition attendees said they had a better understanding of visual impairments, and 74% agreed that Canon was a “force for good”. The wider campaign supported an uplift in Canon’s brand appeal with external audiences and increased pride internally across the EMEA region.
World Unseen changed the way blind people experience photography, the way sighted people understand the blind, and the way we all see Canon.
