ADLaM
EDITORIAL, PRODUCT INNOVATION, AI, SOCIAL
Every 3 months, a language dies. By the end of the century, as many as 90% of languages will be gone forever. The Fulani Language is spoken throughout Western Africa, but it didn’t have a written form. Two brothers have been on a lifelong mission to change that.
We gave them the tools to make their alphabet compatible with the digital age and harnessed the power of AI to speed up the process.
Despite the Barry Brothers’ life-long commitment to spreading literacy through ADLaM—only text fonts for the alphabet existed, making it difficult for people to use the alphabet to communicate on social media platforms, which is now the most ubiquitous and important means of communication in West Africa.
To help remedy this, we commissioned three renowned type designers, Neil Patel, Mark Jamra, and Andrew Footit, to create a new display font that specifically caters to these platforms.
CREDITS:
MCCANN NEW YORK
CO-CHIEF CREATIVE OFFICER: Shayne Millington, Pierre Lipton
CO CHIEF CREATIVE OFFICER NORTH AMERICA: Sean Bryan
MANAGING DIRECTOR: Kevin Nelson
EVP, GLOBAL EXECUTIVE CREATIVE DIRECTOR & HEAD OF ART NA: Cristina Reina
EVP, GLOBAL EXECUTIVE CREATIVE DIRECTOR: Pete Johnson
GROUP CREATIVE DIRECTOR: Christiano Abrahao, Luke Flynn
EDITORIAL DIRECTOR: Cole Striker
GREGGOR-MENTO - CONTENT RESEARCHER: Matt McGregor
SENIOR CREATIVE TECHNOLOGIST: Alicia Foor
SVP, EXECUTIVE ACCOUNT DIRECTOR: Socrates Papazoglou
VP ACCOUNT DIRECTOR: Gabriella Dickens
SENIOR ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE: Rachel Zambernardi
EVP, CHIEF PRODUCTION OFFICER: Aaron Kovan
CHIEF PRODUCTION OFFICER: Nathy Aviram
SVP, EXECUTIVE INTREGRATED PRODUCER: Stacy Flaum
DIGITAL PRODUCER: Jon Zielenkievicz, Bedo Oun
EXECUTIVE DIGITAL PRODUCER: Rich Goldstein
SENIOR INTEGRATED PRODUCER: Sean Flanigan
SVP, GROUP ACCOUNT DIRECTOR, GLOBAL OPERATIONS: Karla Kruger
SENIOR PROJECT MANAGER: Lauren Kosche
CHIEF STRATEGY OFFICER: Erica Yahr
VP, STRATEGY DIRECTOR: Amadeo Plaza
A language— an irreplaceable key to understanding the world—fades away. Every three months. A language—an irreplaceable key to understanding the world—fades away.
Languages are prisms through which we look at the world. A shared understanding binds people together. A diversity of languages encourages a diversity of thought, perspectives, of sense-making. Every language tells us a little bit about who we are. When a language dies, a sliver of our shared culture vanishes, and humanity is poorer for the loss.
“ADLaM has increased the chance of the language to survive, even in areas where the language has been dominated. We have our own alphabet! That’s a source of pride.”
Abdoulaye Barry (pictured below)
