With your vision blocked, other senses kick in. It’s a powerful tool that adam&eveDDB has used especially well to generate excitement for the Tokyo Paralympic Games, which were postponed until 2021 this year – a near-to first person experience of competing. The hero film begins with 15-seconds of black screen but all the sounds of David Brown, the fastest fully blind sprinter in the world, running 100 metres in a race in under 11 seconds, which he did at the London 2012 and Rio 2016 Paralympics. It gives the audience a near-to first person experience.

adam&eveDDB joint group chief executive officer Mat Goff, commented, “Having a brief to do something different with IPC has resulted in a piece of work we’re very proud of, and it also gave us the chance to work with David Brown and Jerome Avery, two incredibly talented athletes and inspiring humans.” It is the first campaign created by adam&eveDDB since its appointment by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) in 2019.

The commercial launched on August 24 in the UK and US, where it will run on Paralympic broadcaster Channel 4, NBC and online. adam&eveDDB has also made an audio described version for people with a vision impairment and a subtitled version for those who are deaf or hard of hearing.

The spot features music from the new Netflix film, Rising Phoenix, about the Paralympic Movement which was scored by Daniel Pemberton and the IPC is making the film available globally to Paralympic broadcasters so it can be aired to audiences to build anticipation for the Games in 2021.

Craig Spence, chief brand and communications officer at IPC, stated, “Faced with unique circumstances and a historic first postponement of the Paralympic Games, we have a Groundhog Day scenario whereby we are once again celebrating one year to go until the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games. To mark the occasion, maintain interest in the Games and generate excitement for next year we wanted an impactful global campaign that would appeal to Paralympic Games rights-holders and sport fans around the world. We are hugely grateful to adam&eveDDB for their creativity in developing the ‘Wait for the Greats’ campaign, which we will now roll out across multiple channels in more than 180 countries with the support of our National Paralympic Committees around the world.”

Credits:

Agency: adam&eveDDB

Chief Creative Officer: Richard Brim

Creative Directors: Laura Rogers & Andre Sallowicz

Creative: Edd Gold

Producer: Charles Woodall

Planner: John Blight

Head of Planning: Milla McPhee

Global Brand Director: Polly Dedman

Account Manager: Andy Billman

Business Affairs: Klaudia Jozwicka

Designer & Typographer: Andre Sallowicz

Post Production: Etc

Post Producer: Jon Purton

Editing Company: Marshall Street Editors

Editor: Guy Savin

Edit Producer: SJ O’Mara

2D Artist: Sarah Crux

Colourist: Connor Coolbear

Audio: Factory

Audio Engineer: Jack Hallett

Audio Producers: Beth Massey & Deborah Whitfield

Soundtrack: Inspire The World (London 2012), Daniel Pemberton

Client: International Paralympic Committee

Chief Brand & Communications Officer: Craig Spence

Head of Brand & Engagement: Natalia Dannenberg-Spreier