Technology Castaways | Claro

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Claro is the telecommunications company with the biggest coverage in Dominican Republic, there are places where no other company has signal and Claro does. That’s why they wanted us to create a campaign celebrating their reach.

But we found a bigger truth, a purpose if you will.

Claro is the company responsible to make everyone live the present technology era.

However, there are many Dominicans that live isolated from technology, for one reason or another.

And it is the brand's mission to go and find those people and help the live life with technology as we know it.

We wanted to create a campaign with real people, so Claro wouldn't just say they have a purpose, they would SHOW IT. We looked for people really living isolated, interviewed them and freely surprised them with the technology that fitted their needs. We filmed their reactions and made our tv commercials with the whole experience.

There were 3 stories we wanted to find:

I•

One babysitter that due to economic reasons left her hometown, and with it her children in the care of someone else, to go to the capital city and work to provide for them. Only saw her children once or twice a month, but didn’t have the means to afford a smartphone to chat and video call with them.

And we found Yésica. A 23 year old single mother with two sons living apart on the outskirts of town. A two year old living with Yésica’s mother to the west of town, and a five year old living with its paternal grandmother to the est. She only sees her youngest two days a week, and her oldest once a month. But not only that, her mother didn’t have a phone in her house so she rarely spoke with her son during the week. And let’s not even speak about smartphones. So we gifted them the means to see each others faces and hear each others voices every time they wanted.

Translation:

Text: There are still Dominicans isolated from technology. We went for them.

Yésica: Iʼm Yésica María Peña Álvarez, Iʼm a nanny.

I come to work on Mondays and leave on Friday afternoons.

When I wake up, the first thing I do is make breakfast for the

baby, then play with him, and that's how we spend the day.

Text: She has two sons.

Yésica: They don't live with me. Jeyson lives with his grandma, on the father's side, and José Manuel with my mother. I take care of this baby as if he was one of my sons. I miss them so much and wish I was with them sharing a good time.

Text: Yésica works far from her sons.

Yésica: My mother has no cellphone, and there is no phone in the house. I wished I could know what he does, how he is, and if he needs anything.

Text: We went where her heart is.

Everything we do, we do for you.

II•

A blind person, that didn’t have a smartphone with an image recognition app, to make their life easier and navigate the messy city that is Santo Domingo.

And we met Julia. Strong independent woman with a golden smile, that lost her sight when she was 21. Disabled but not incapable. Her sight lost didn’t stop her from moving forward. She became a massage therapist, goes alone to work, is the main source of income for her house, is married, has a 17 year old son and is always thinking about her future.

But there’s still one place that scares her. The supermarket. There is no way for her to know the difference between a red bell pepper or a green one, between a sweet or salty cookie. But we helped her see the difference.

Translation:

Text: There are still Dominicans isolated from technology. We went for them.

Julia: I'm Julia Ascencio Olivier.

At 21, I became totally blind.

I'm disabled, not incapable.

I go anywhere, I take public transport alone.

I work from Monday to Saturday and cook on Sunday.

It's been long since my husband had a job, so I'm responsible for the household's

primary income.

I feel normal, fulfilled in life [laughs].

Text: The supermarket it's still a challenge.

Julia: I can't tell if the cookie box is sweet or salty. None of those products

have Braille for one to know.

Text: With guide from Rosángela from “El Patronato de Ciegos”, we helped her.

App: Cookies 142 grams. Touch to take a picture. Green peppers.

Text: Everything we do, we do for you.

III•

And finally, a family living in a town so remotely that no one even had Tv.

And so, on a mountain top, we found Ernestina and Sérgido. A very nice old couple born and raised in Guardarraya a long forgotten mountain. They are the center of their community. Sérgido coordinates a reforestation project and the community orchard. Ernestina is the proud owner of the town’s teeny tiny only grocery store, where most of the community gathers after a long day of plowing the earth.

Even though they’ve lived there since ever, they first got electric energy one month before we met them. And therefore never, ever, had tv.

Translation:

Ernestina/Sérgido: Here in Guardarraya, there has never been a tv.

Text: There are still Dominicans isolated from technology. We went for them.

Ernestina: My name is Ernestina Jiménez.

Sérgido: Iʼm Carlos María Puello, but everyone calls me Sérgido. I used to be a farmer. But now I canʼt work, because the doctor forbade me from taking the sun.

Ernestina: I have a small market to sustain the family.

Text: In their small market, all the community gathers.

Ernestina//Sérgido: We had to go on horseback to the nearest city.

We have always lived here. For 72 years of our lives, we didnʼt have electricity.

Text: They have electricity since June 2019.

Ernestina//Sérgido: To install a television here would be very hard. It is not flat; it is mountains and rivers, a house here, a house there… On tv, you see everything good and bad happens in the world.

We want to know whatʼs going on.

Text: We surprised them.

Everything we do, we do for you.

digital extended versions

radio jingle

We wanted the music to feel intimate, close and warm. With true Dominican sounds, but interest twists. For the lyrics, it had to portrait the brand’s closeness and presence everywhere you go, you are never alone, wherever you go I go with you, I've got your back. I help you do what you can't when you're alone.