Disability Isn't An Other, It's Humanity - Says The New Paralympics Campaign By adam&eveDDB

The sumptuous film created by adam&eveDDB champions inclusion for people living with disabilities on a global scale for the next decade.

Directed by Sam Pilling, the film 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 launches on Thursday August 19, five days before the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics begins. The Paralympics mark just the start of a ten-year drive for human rights-based progress for the 15 per cent.

The ambitious movement, #WeThe15 - supports the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) and multiple international organisations - takes its name from the 15 per cent of the global population who have a disability: the world’s largest marginalised group forgotten by the inclusivity agenda. For these 1.2 billion people, 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.

Spearheaded by the IPC and International Disability Alliance, #WeThe15 sees the largest-ever coalition of organisations unite behind this cause – 20 in total, including UN Human Rights, UNESCO, Special Olympics, and The Valuable 500 - with the goal of putting 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 PR handled by FleishmanHillard, Porter Novelli and Portland.

Harry Pearce and team’s striking identity for #WeThe15 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.

A vibrant shade of purple was chosen for the identity as this represents the international colour of disability. To honour this, a total of 125 iconic global landmarks across six continents - from Tokyo’s Skytree to Niagara Falls - will be illuminated in purple light on August 19 when the campaign launches.

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

The campaign launch film will be screened by multiple 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 scheduled to take place on August 24. Twelve days of competition will then follow, with the Closing Ceremony set to be held on September 5.

The film 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. Filmed in Bogota, Bangkok, London, Johannesburg, Milan and Manila, the film features nearly 40 persons with disabilities assembled in partnership with disabled talent agency and consultancy C Talent.

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

Craig Spence, chief brand and communications officer at the International Paralympic Committee, said: “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.”

Mat Goff, CEO 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.”

CREDITS

Core Team

Client: International Paralympic Committee

Creative Agency: adam&eveDDB

Project: WeThe15

First Air Date: 19/08/21

Chief Creative Officer: Richard Brim

Global Creative Director: Laura Rogers

Campaign Creative Team: Edward Usher and Xander Hart

Film Creative Team: Selma Ahmed and 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

Clients

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

Branding and Design

Design agency: Pentagram

Partner: Harry Pearce

Graphic Designer: Johannes Grimmond

Graphic Designer and Animator: Tom Walker

Production: Daren Howells

Graphic Designer: Romilly Winter

Graphic Designer: Richard Clarke

Project Manager: Tiffany Fenner

Project Manager: Jane Kemp

TV Production

Accessibility, Disability and Inclusion Consultant: C Talent

Production Company: Pulse Films

Managing Director and Executive Producer: James Sorton

Executive Producer: Lucy Kelly

Executive Producer: Davud Karbassioun

Producer: David French

Director: Sam Pilling

DOP: Alex Barber, Chloë Thompson

1st AD: James Sharpe

Casting Director: Anna Stark

Production Manager: 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

Editor: Ellie Johnson, Liam Bachler, Elyse Raphael

Post Production: Untold Studios

Grade: Simon Bourne at Framestore

Post Producers: Tomek Zietkiewicz

Audio Post Production: 750mph

Audio Engineer: Sam Ashwell, Mark Hellaby

Audio Producer: Kirsten Troy, Martin Critchely

Music Company: Soundtree

Music Supervisor: Jay James & Neil Athale

Transcreation

Head of Language: Sarah Mrowicki

Senior Transcreation Account Manager: Veronica Viudas Garcia

Transcreation Account Manager: Maria Dilena

Adaptation Production and Supply

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

QC: Stuart Moore, Chloe Maudsley

Post Producer: Olivia Hards

Senior Post Producer: Martina Trlik

Resource Manager: Aleksandra Bulkowska

Creative Lead: Tom Lockwood

Edit/Animator: Gabi Mascarenhas, Meena Ayittey

Researcher: Beth Hill

Head of Production: Marc Dolby

Print producer: Jay Tijani

Senior Integrated Producer: Gareth Evans, Matt Thompson

Studio Artworker: David Pluckrose

+ the cain&abel studio and QA teams

PR

PR Agencies: FleishmanHillard, Porter Novelli and Portland

Media

Media agency: Omnicom Media Group