Studies have shown that when people who stutter start rapping, their stutter disappears. Rapping makes it easier to control the speech movement from the brain. We created a free app that uses rap to help children speak more fluently. Rap provides guidance and rhythm, which really helps people who stutter. Many stutter therapies lack fun speech exercises. The ‘Get The Flow’ app combines speech exercises with something kids do like: Dutch hip hop.

We collaborated with famous Dutch rappers, songwriters and the Dutch Stutter Federation. For every exercise they wrote special rap lyrics that make use of tongue twisters and alliterations that are hard to pronounce for children who stutter. A custom-built timing system automatically recognises if kids don’t stutter. Kids can see their improvements and share their tracks with other stuttering kids.

And they can connect to practice together, so they feel they’re not alone in this.

We built the free app ‘Get The Flow’ that uses rap to help children who stutter speak more fluently. The app has a playful design and consists of multiple levels of difficulty. Special rap/stutter exercises were written that make use of tongue twisters, vowel, consonants and alliterations that are hard to pronounce for children who stutter. Children could connect to practice together and share their progress.

On their profile page they could see their improvements and share the results with their stutter coaches. The app was launched together with the Dutch Stutter Federation and stutter ambassador Miss Montreal, capturing national and international attention. The documentary we created was shared through Vodafone’s social channels, rap influencers and medical platforms. We supported the launch of the app/documentary with a seeding budget, but over 80% of reach (online, newspapers, TV, radio) was generated through earned media.

The campaign was launched only recently. At this stage we don’t yet have a complete overview of the results. However, after its launch ‘Get The Flow’ was featured in almost every major Dutch media title and picked up by many international media. It was featured on many big TV and radio shows and was even mentioned on The Voice.

The campaign already reached over 50% of the Dutch population (7+ million people) and got 86+ million media impressions.

Social media sentiment around the Vodafone initiative is almost 100% positive with great brand perception impact, already making the campaign a great success for the Vodafone brand. The app has already been downloaded by 30% of all stuttering children and has helped thousands to improve their speech skills, creating a big impact on their social environment. And Get The Flow is now used by 70 stutter official practices all across the Netherlands.

The Media Lions celebrate the context of creativity. Entries will need to demonstrate an inspiring and innovative implementation of ideas. That is, work which is enhanced and amplified by a game-changing channel strategy. With the ‘Get The Flow’ app, we a) built our own medium (the app), b) created a newsworthy event that generated massive free publicity (the launch of the app, the documentary video), and c) activated social media users to engage with our message and share it with friends. For these reasons we believe this case is very relevant in this category.

In the Netherlands 5% of all children stutter: about one kid in every classroom. Many become victims of bullying, which causes low self-esteem. Instead of practicing their speech by talking in public, children choose the easy alternative to communicate: their mobile phones. We tapped into this issue, because we saw mobile technology could make a real difference. We created an app for children aged 8-14 (at this age stuttering hinders them the most), to help them speak more fluently and connect with others.

In addition to the app itself, we created a documentary about a boy overcoming his stutter problem by using the app, to generate maximum impact and reach. His story became an example for other stuttering children. Video views, editorial pieces and social reached over half of the Dutch population. All linked to Vodafone’s Powerful Connections platform, displaying more ‘mobile technology for good’ projects from Vodafone NL.

Vodafone runs a brand engagement programme called ‘Powerful Connections’ in the Netherlands. With this programme the network provider aims to underline their vision that mobile technology connects people and changes their lives for the better.

We were asked to create an impactful campaign that would convince people this is more than just an empty promise, and would reach as many people as possible in the Netherlands.

To accomplish this (convince people and realise maximum reach), we felt we needed real proof and decided to create a mobile technology solution to a social issue. We saw that stuttering is a serious issue in the Netherlands and stuttering is all about communication, which laid the foundation for our creative idea.