On Thursday, August 19, adam&eveDDB and the International Paralympic Committee launched #WeThe15, a 10-year global movement that fights for true inclusivity for the 15% of the world’s population with disabilities, or 1.2bn people.

The movement, #WeThe15, takes its name from the 15% of the global population who have a disability, the world’s largest marginalised group forgotten by the inclusivity agenda. For these, access to basic human rights such as healthcare, education and employment, are at best limited and at worst non-existent, making it harder for people with disabilities to live, work, thrive, or even survive. The movement, which will run for ten years, intends to change that. It is spearheaded by the IPC and International Disability Alliance, and is the largest-ever coalition of organisations fighting for a cause. There are 20 in total, including UN Human Rights, UNESCO, Special Olympics, and The Valuable 500, whose goal is to put people with disabilities at the heart of the inclusivity agenda.

The campaign by adam&eveDDB is supported by an identity developed by Pentagram, a film by Pulse Films (and director Sam Pilling), and PR handled by FleishmanHillard, Porter Novelli and Portland. For the global launch moment, 125 landmarks across 6 continents around the world will light up in purple, the campaign colour. Those landmarks include the Empire State Building, the London Eye, the Colosseum, Niagara Falls and the world’s tallest tower, Skytree in Tokyo.

The #WeThe15 identity by Harry Pearce and the Pentagram team includes a wordmark, a symbol, and sonic branding by fellow Pentagram partner, Yuri Suzuki. The wordmark echoes the hashtag (to ensure maximum visibility across social media) and the symbol is a clear visual representation of what the percentage actually looks like. Throughout the Paralympic Games, athletes will wear temporary tattoos made from the #WeThe15 symbol.

Dozens of organisations and brands, such as Allianz, Coca Cola, Facebook, Twitter, Intel, BP and Visa will show their support by sharing bespoke content, updated logos, and their plans for progressing the inclusivity agenda.

The campaign launch film went live on August 19 and will be screened by broadcasters around the world, including Channel 4 and NBC during the Paralympic Games. The film will also be broadcast live to an audience of over 250 million worldwide during the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games Opening Ceremony.

The film, created by Pulse Films and director Sam Pilling, sets out to shift the narrative around people with disabilities away from one in which they are either stereotyped as objects of pity, or put on a pedestal, in order to emphasise that disability is not an “other” – it is humanity. It opens with real quotes that show the way people with disabilities are framed by even the well-meaning, before a cast of people with disabilities challenge viewers to recognise them not through those stereotypes, but as ordinary people who demand true inclusion. It was filmed in Bogota, Bangkok, London, Johannesburg, Milan and Manila and features nearly 40 people with disabilities assembled in partnership with disabled talent agency and consultancy, C Talent.

The outdoor creative designed by Pentagram emphasises the scale of the community of persons with disabilities and will run in high-profile sites across the UK, USA, Canada, Japan and France. This includes complete domination of Piccadilly Lights in London, supported by Ocean Outdoor, provoking audiences to consider the lack of representation in the world around them.

A team of PR agencies is supporting the campaign in the following ways:

FleishmanHillard is providing strategic counsel and global media relations support; underpinned by specialist DE&I, sports and cultural communications expertise. The long-term narrative was developed by FleishmanHillard, finessed by its communities across eight supporting international markets: Australia, Canada, China, Germany, Japan, South Africa, UK and the U.S. FleishmanHillard also helped to secure famous landmarks to promote the campaign by being lit, including the Houses of Parliament, London Eye and Tokyo Skytree.

Porter Novelli has managed all macro influencer and celebrity ambassador outreach around the #WeThe15 programme and worked with the IPC directly to advise on additional mid-tier and micro-influencer outreach. 

Portland provided political engagement in a range of markets, including the UK, France, Germany, North America and South East Asia, and led on developing the messaging narrative for the campaign.

Craig Spence, chief brand and communications officer at the International Paralympic Committee, stated, “At the IPC we believe that Change Starts with Sport and through #WeThe15 we want to change the lives of the world’s 1.2 billion persons with disabilities. By partnering with multiple international organisations to launch #WeThe15 ahead of the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games we want to use the platform of the world’s third biggest sport event to spark a decade-long transformation for the world’s largest marginalised group.”

Prince Harry, The Duke of Sussex, patron of the Invictus Games Foundation, commented, “One of the reasons why I was inspired to create the Invictus Games was to help destigmatise physical and invisible injuries and give the men and women who have experienced them a platform to show the world that they and we can accomplish anything, when we put our mind to it. Everybody at the Invictus Games Foundation is honoured to join the WeThe15 campaign and believe in its mission to inspire meaningful change in communities around the world.”

Mat Goff, chief executive officer at adam&eveDDB, added, “WeThe15 gives a voice to the biggest unheard group in the Inclusion agenda. This Tokyo 2020 launch campaign is just the start of a movement that will drive real change for over a billion people worldwide. The more brands and organisations and people that get involved in this movement, the louder that voice will be and the faster the change will come.”

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Credits:

Creative Agency: adam&eveDDB
Chief Creative Officer: Richard Brim
Global Creative Director: Laura Rogers
Campaign Creative Team: Edward Usher & Xander Hart
Film Creative Team: Selma Ahmed & Genevieve Gransden
Social Director: Sophie Chaytor-Grubb
Social Media Manager: Matthew Osbourne
Creative Technology Director: Hash Milhan
Deputy Head of Production: Jack Bayley
Agency producers: Rebecca Holt, Hannah Needham
Integrated Assistant Producer: Richard Bailey 
Senior Project Manager: Alice Southam
Head of Planning: Will Grundy
Strategy Director: Claire Strickett
Senior Planner: Sarah Benson
Joint CEO: Mat Goff
Managing Partner: Polly Dedman
Business Director: Louis Lunts
Account Directors: Charlie Simpson, Charlotte Ellison, Rosie Snowball & Pablo Arango
Account Manager: Irina Patrichi

Client: International Paralympic Committee
Chief Brand & Communications Officer: Craig Spence
Head of Brand and Engagement: Natalia Dannenberg-Spreier
Head of Communications: Phil Dorward
Brand Campaigns Coordinator: Elliot Forward
Digital Partnerships Manager: Mariel Avalos
Designer: Tanja Aurand
Brand Campaigns Assistant: George Doman
Campaign Consultant: Dana Robinson-Slote
Head of Partnership Services: Nael Ogden-Smith
Partnership Services Manager : Kiriah Crane, Fiona Sanna
IPC Board Member: Juan Pablo Salazar
Broadcasting Rights Manager: Daphne Chan

Design Agency: Pentagram
Partner: Harry Pearce
Graphic Designer: Johannes Grimmond
Graphic Designer & Animator: Tom Walker
Production: Daren Howells
Graphic Designers: Romilly Winter & Richard Clarke
Project Managers: Tiffany Fenner & Jane Kemp

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Accessibility, Disability & Inclusion Consultant TV Production: C Talent

Production Company: Pulse Films
Managing Director & Executive Producer: James Sorton
Executive Producers: Lucy Kelly & Davud Karbassioun
Producer: David French
Director: Sam Pilling
DOPs: Alex Barber & Chloë Thompson
1st AD: James Sharpe
Casting Director: Anna Stark
Production Managers: Kishan Patel & Tom Nutting
Production Assistant: Ellie Saunders Wright
Location Manager: Rupert Bowkett
Production Designer: Beck Rainford
Costume Designer: Hannah Hopkins

Service Production in South Africa: Gathouse Commercials
Executive Producer: Beverley Wynne
Line Producer: Karin Tanchel
DOP: Shaun Harley Lee
1st AD: Jaco Nel
Location Manager: Bhut Gladstone
Art Director: Willow Howell

Service Production in Bangkok: Indochina Productions
Executive Producer: Nicholas Simon
Line Producer: Atrachariya Pinitsanpirom (Bird)
DOP: Nicholas Axelrod
1st AD: Napon Limsomwong (Kwan)
Casting Director: Sarawanee Yodnoon

Service Production in Milan: Pulse Films Italia
Executive Producer: Giorgio Testi
Line Producer: Giulia Negretto
2nd Unit Director: Tobia Passigato
DOP: Diego Indraccolo

Editing Company: TenThree
Editors: Ellie Johnson, Liam Bachler & Elyse Raphael

Post Production: Untold Studios
Grade: Simon Bourne at Framestore
Post Producers: Tomek Zietkiewicz

Audio Post Production:  750mph
Audio Engineesr:  Sam Ashwell & Mark Hellaby
Audio Producers: Kirsten Troy & Martin Critchely

Music Company: Soundtree
Music Supervisosr: Jay James & Neil Athale

Head of Language: Sarah Mrowicki
Senior Transcreation Account Manager: Veronica Viudas Garcia
Transcreation Account Manager: Maria Dilena

Adaptation Agency: cain&abel
Managing Partner: Mike Turnbull
Account Director: Theo Tsangarides
Senior Production Account Manager: Sophie Duncan
Account Manager: Kate Morrow
Producers: Rachel Lodge, Nicola Shanks, Mandy Amoah & Charlotte O’Reilly
Senior Producer: Laura Frischke
Editor: Adrian Scanlon
QCs: Stuart Moore & Chloe Maudsley

Post Producer: Olivia Hards
Senior Post Producer: Martina Trlik
Resource Manager: Aleksandra Bulkowska
Creative Lead: Tom Lockwood
Edit & Animation: Gabi Mascarenhas & Meena Ayittey
Researcher: Beth Hill

Head of Production: Marc Dolby
Print Producer: Jay Tijani
Senior Integrated Producers: Gareth Evans & Matt Thompson
Studio Artworker: David Pluckrose
+ the cain&abel studio and QA teams

PR Agencies: FleishmanHillard, Porter Novelli & Portland

Media Agency: Omnicom Media Group