• by Les Luchter , May 19, 2022

Image above: Shrink (left) aims to help Siri.

So why would Susan Bennett, original voice of Apple’s Siri, seek advice from Dr. Orna Guralnik, star of Showtime’s “Couples Therapy”?

“What bothers me is there are 1 billion people with disabilities even I can’t assist. Most websites just don’t work for them,” confides Bennett in a 2-minute spot for UserWay.

“People should learn how to get through life without depending on you so much,” agrees Guralnik.

UserWay markets a widget that makes websites fully accessible and ADA-compliant through one line of code, fixing issues with color contrast, text readability, keyboard navigation and the like. The company cites research from WebAIM showing that only 2% of the world’s top 1 million websites are accessible. It also notes that more than 1 billion people worldwide have relevant disabilities and impairments.

“Businesses of any size are at risk of being targeted in ADA-related lawsuits when their websites are inaccessible,” Itai Bichler, marketing consultant for the UserWay campaign, told Marketing Daily. “Therefore, it’s ideal for them to start working on being compliant before they get hit with a demand letter."

Bichler worked on the campaign creation for UserWay with Maayan Nave, who is also founder and president of Now You Global Communications.

Released to coincide with Thursday’s Global Accessibility Awareness Day, the new spot has launched on UserWay’s Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter channels.

A complementary paid ad campaign will run on YouTube, Google Search, OTT and thought-leadership outlets, with UserWay reinforcing its message through blog posts, whitepapers and webinars.

Bennett previously appeared in a :67 UserWay spot that debuted last fall. In that ad, she walked through a neighborhood assisting individuals with tasks like directions and calorie information —but explained that she was limited in her ability to help people with disabilities due to inaccessible websites.

“Digital accessibility is fundamentally part of our everyday lives, even if we don’t realize it,” said Allon Mason, CEO of UserWay. “It’s great to see accessibility awareness expanding, and we felt that highlighting the problem with both Susan and Orna creates a sort of familiarity and relatability everyone can appreciate. It’s our hope this will inspire all companies to take action to ensure their websites are inclusive, and accessible to people of all abilities or disabilities.”

 

UserWay offers both free and paid (starting at $49/month) plans, with the former offering up to 20% ADA compliance and the latter at least 90%. A 22%-off sale through Friday is being promoted through a social media video featuring Bennett.