Paralympics kickstarts marketing campaign ahead of Paris Games

Paralympics has kickstarted their marketing campaign for Paris 2024 by releasing three film spots by Saatchi & Saatchi New Zealand and Finch.

“We’ll Give You Something to Talk About” is the tagline of the campaign, a theme born from the experience of many disabled athletes. Each 30-second spot features a Paralympian fuelled by the disparaging voices they’ve heard throughout their lives.

Rachel Barr, Paralympics New Zealand (PNZ) Marketing Manager says the aim was to showcase the individual journeys of Kiwi Paralympians.

“Touching on the battle with their own internal voices, the external cacophony of comments and expectations all athletes experience and have to overcome, and the idea that we should talk about disability.

“We want to celebrate and shout about our Para athletes’ incredible accomplishments, and we want New Zealanders to talk about them as the amazing elite athletes they are.”

Three-time Paralympic champion swimmer Paralympian #164 Cameron Leslie MNZM, who features in the campaign, says he struggled to get people to believe in him early in his career.

“Disability can so often be talked about in whispers and behind people’s backs,” says Leslie, a quadruple amputee.

“Those of us with disabilities go through life proving people wrong and sport became my way to truly prove that.”

Born with bilateral talipes (or club feet), Devon Briggs was told he wouldn’t be able to walk – let alone become a world champion.

“I was called all kinds of names as a kid and made to feel like I was more worthless than others,” says Briggs, who won gold and set a world record at the 2024 Para Cycling Track World Championships and is shown in the campaign preparing to ride on the track.

“But riding a bike has been more to me than racing or winning. It gives me the ability to be free and feel just like everyone else.”

Paralympian #195 Anna Grimaldi MNZM, who’s visible in the run-up to the long jump in her film, struggled with self-confidence through her childhood and early in her in career.

“I’ve always had to work hard in terms of my own head space,” says the Dunedin athlete, who battled with ‘imposter syndrome’ after winning back-to-back T47 long jump gold medals at the last two Paralympic Games. A foot injury also seriously affected her confidence.

“I’m very keen to challenge the perceptions around being ‘normal’. What is considered ‘normal’?”

The films were directed by Lex Hodge of Finch with post-production from Saatchi & Saatchi Studios and audio thanks to Franklin Rd. Advertising critic website, David Reviews, has already given the campaign five stars.

“If this campaign has Kiwis rethinking their attitudes and goes towards changing some of the negative sentiment that Para athletes, and many people with disabilities have to endure, that would certainly be something to talk about,” says Saatchi & Saatchi New Zealand Chief Creative Officer, Steve Cochran.

The integrated campaign includes OOH, with partners LUMO, that shows negative quotes with dynamic shots of the athletes in action obscuring individual words and therefore changing the meaning.

Extensions of the idea will be visible in many other formats too, thanks to other NZ Paralympic partners, including Harvey Norman stores nationwide on their display televisions.

NZ Herald and Newstalk ZB will also encourage people to ‘talk about it’ within their coverage of the games. TVNZ, the official broadcaster of the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games, has also incorporated elements of the campaign into their own promotion.

In addition, there are long-form interviews talking to Paralympians and Para athletes on legacy, their pride in wearing the fern, and their own personal journeys. The whole campaign is complemented by the Seeing is Believing – Paralympic Education Programme presented by Toyota – available to all primary schools across the country, which includes a Paralympic Games Paris 2024 ‘Talk About This’ resource, tailored to the New Zealand curriculum.

There is evidently a growing movement to draw attention and drive conversation on this topic. The NZ Paralympic campaign itself has some similarities to this year’s Channel 4 OOH Paralympic work, which launched at the same time. This wasn’t a deliberate strategy but more a happy coincidence.

“It’s great that more organisations are trying to change the conversation – getting people to talk about Paralympic athletes’ elite sporting ability. There’s a lot more to come from our campaign, and with the response so far, it will make for some exciting conversation around the Paris Games,” says Lee Sunter, Saatchi & Saatchi New Zealand ECD.

The campaign is live and runs through the event until September 8^th.

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