To mark 100 days to go until the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games, the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) has launched a promotional film that addresses the romantic stereotypes of what some people think the Paralympics represent versus the brutal reality of high-performance sport.
Paul McCartney’s 1984 seminal song We All Stand Together is the soundtrack for the film titled ‘The Paralympic Dream’ which, like the original music video, features stunning animated scenes.
The advert was developed by the IPC’s advertising agency adam&eveddb. The creative is initially set in a dream-like animated city of Paris where Para athletes run, jump, fence, and paddle, hand-in-hand alongside loveable singing plants and animals.
However, the animated love-in and song is abruptly interrupted with the harsh realism of Paralympic sport as British Paralympic taekwondo athlete Amy Truesdale is kicked in the chest and crashes to the mat.
As Amy climbs back to her feet and lands a blow on her opponent, the advert cuts to a stunning montage of outstanding sporting action from previous Paralympic Games.
The film is being made available to the IPC’s media rights holders and members organisations to support their promotion of the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games.
Craig Spence, the IPC’s Chief Brand and Communications Officer, said: “With our Paris 2024 Paralympic promotional film we wanted to challenge the perceptions and stereotypes some people have of the Paralympic Games in the most fun and creative way possible.
“For some, the Paralympics is an idyllic event where the athletes are carefree and just happy to be there. The truth is that Paralympic sport is highly competitive and, at times, pretty brutal. To compete at the Paralympics, you have to be a world-class high-performance athlete and we show this in the film through fast-paced sporting action.
“We created this film because we are aiming for the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games to attract record TV audiences and massive crowds of spectators. This film will be used by Media Rights Holders and IPC member organisations to engage new audiences in what will be spectacular and historical Paralympic Games this summer.”
adam&eveDDB chose the Paul McCartney track for the advert because it has a loveable childlike quality that perfectly matches the idealistic world they were trying to create and then jolt them out of it in the most memorable way possible.
The advert, which also has a 30 and 15 second cut-down in English, has been made available in nine languages, and has audio-described and subtitled version.
