The App That’s Giving New Zealanders Everyday Access To The Māori Language

The App That’s Giving New Zealanders Everyday Access To The Māori Language

New Zealand outfit Colenso BBDO has come up with ‘Kupu’, the ambitious project that gives users the chance to bring the native te reo Māori language back into the world around them.

Working with its client Spark, New Zealand’s sole internet service provider, and using Google Cloud Vision and Google Translate APIs, Kupu translates photos taken on smartphones into te reo Māori.

Users simply download the free app and start snapping.

The technology uses real-time machine learning algorithms to understand objects appearing in photos and then translate them for the user.

Colenso BBDO has given it a simple description: “take a photo, learn a language”.

“We crafted a campaign around the seemingly mundane: everyday Kiwi objects. Through Kupu, the world became a playground for te reo learning,” said Colenso BBDO.

“Kupu’s core recognition/translation feature was the hero of every static and dynamic asset we had available to us, transforming every media placement into a Kupu experience.”

Within the first 24 hours, the product garnered a staggering 35,051 downloads.

After taking their photos and learning the language, users are then able to share their experience onto social media.

In the first two weeks after the launch, there had been 3,260 shares to social media.

Colenso BBDO believes the total earned media reach of the initiative has been around 6.4 million.




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