Paralympics Australia and Publicis Worldwide Australia are encouraging Australians to support the Paralympic team ahead of the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris with a campaign that provokes them to imagine what their Paralympians could achieve with the full weight of the nation behind them.
The campaign was inspired by Paralympics Australia’s new brand positioning, Imagine What We Can Do.
While 18% of Australians[1] live with a disability, one in four currently participate in a sports-related activity once a week or more[2]. However, three in four have revealed they would like to play, with factors such as a lack of available coaching and facilities common barriers.
The campaign encourages Australia’s sporting community and the broader society to remove these obstacles people with disability face when looking to participate in sport by sharing the personal and professional journeys of prominent Paralympians.
The campaign film spotlights Paralympians Chris Bond (wheelchair rugby), Paige Greco (para-cycling) and Taymon Kenton-Smith (para-archery) alongside para-swimmers Rowan Crothers, Katja Dedekind and Ruby Storm as they reflect on the biases they have overcome, their successes and their future aspirations. As the athletes speak, images of key milestones in their stories are projected across their bodies and the walls around them.
Paralympics Australia chief executive officer, Catherine Clark, stated, “At Paralympics Australia, we envision a society where all Australians have the opportunity to play sport, regardless of their ability. As we head towards Paris 2024, we hope this campaign encourages our fellow Aussies to get behind these phenomenal high-performance athletes as they step onto the world stage.
“We also hope to inspire every person with a disability to imagine what they can do and participate in sport. And to enable them to take part, we’re aiming to engage sports organisations, coaches, businesses and all levels of government to make the change needed to remove the barriers currently in our society so they can play, train and compete for our nation.”
Publicis Worldwide Australia managing director, Simone Waugh, added, “When speaking to Paralympic athletes, they all describe the incredible barriers they have overcome both in life and to play their sport. They’ve encountered people who have said, ‘You can’t do that’. So, we wanted to inspire athletes and Australia to imagine what we CAN do if all of us got behind our Paralympic athletes on the path to Paris 2024 and beyond.”
The campaign will be shown via a partnership with Paralympics broadcaster, NINE, across TV, radio, digital and print, along with media partners, News Corp Australia in digital and print, and QMS in out of home, in the lead up to and during the Games. Campaign activity will also run across social, content and fan engagement.
View all the athlete’s 60 second films and stories here.
Credits:
Client: Paralympics Australia
Head of Commercial, Communications & Brand: Cameron Murray
General Manager, Brand, Marketing & Digital: Brendon Harrington
Senior Manager, Brand, Marketing & Digital: Amy Miller
Agency: Publicis Worldwide Australia
Client Partner: Michelle Sakzewski
Strategy: Simone Waugh
Executive Creative Director: Ryan Petie
Producer: Chris Moore
Director & Editor: Oliver Sindle
Producer: Karen Hayward
[1] Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2018: https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/health/disability/disability-ageing-and-carers-australia-summary-findings/2018
[2] Clearinghouse for Sport, 2022: https://www.clearinghouseforsport.gov.au/kb/persons-with-disability-and-sport
