Building buzz and excitement ahead of the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics (which runs from 24 August to 5 September), official UK broadcaster Channel 4 launched its ‘Super. Human.’ campaign to promote its coverage and showcase the sweat, sacrifice and dedication required to make it to the Games.
The integrated promotional campaign is spearheaded by a three-minute hero spot created by the broadcaster’s in-house agency 4Creative and focusing on human dedication and fragility.
Set to a fresh version of Bugsy Malone’s ‘So You Want To Be A Boxer’ by UK artist Jay Prince, the film offers a raw and realistic view at UK Paralympian training routines – complete with blood, tears and even vomit.
The premise of the candid, gritty ad is that to be a Paralympian you need a rare kind of mental determination and the film features British Paralympians Ali Jawad, David Smith, Ellie Simmonds, Jody Cundy, Jordanne Whiley, Kadeena Cox and Kylie Grimes.
To ensure authenticity, 4Creative worked closely with all the athletes who also helped to write the script to ensure that everything shown on screen was inspired by real-life experiences of those Paralympians featured.
As well as working with the athletes, 4Creative also teamed up with the International Paralympic Committee, the British Paralympics Association and Scope to gain insight and guidance in shaping the campaign.
The spot starts with a dream sequence starring Paralympian Kadeena Cox as she faces the pressures of repeating her gold medal performances from Rio 2016 and is shaken from her slumber by a starting pistol and then reality bites for her and her team mates.
The film debuted on Channel 4 and across all the broadcaster’s channels on 16 July and is supported by video and still image social media activity using #SuperHuman with trailers running across Channel 4 airtime and social media across Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube, as well as by a nationwide OOH strand in August.
Behind the scenes images of the film – with portraits of the individual athletes – were captured by blind photographer Ian Treherne.
When Tokyo 2020’s pandemic postponement was announced, the ad had already been in development for 18 months and it was finally filmed in mid-May 2021 over a period of two weeks.
“We spotted an opportunity to present Paralympians in a way they hadn’t been shown before – by pointing a camera at the realities of their lives and, as with any elite athlete, the sacrifices they make in pursuit of greatness,” explained 4Creative Executive Creative Director Lynsey Atkin. “Whether that’s defying medical advice, missing children’s birthdays, anxiety, repetition, getting endless blisters – collectively these choices paint a story of mental determination, not of disability.”
4Creative Deputy ECD Eoin McLaughlin added: “The previous campaigns presented disabled people as superheroes, which felt like the right thing to do at the time. Our job was to produce something that shifted the conversation forward in 2021. The previous films were inspirational, but they didn’t tell the full story. Paralympians achieve incredible things, but they face all the same pressures and anxieties as everybody else. They’re flawed and vulnerable, just like you and I.”
Oscar-nominated Cinematographer/Director Bradford Young added that it wasn’t the super element that most interested him, but rather the human stories. “It’s what makes us vulnerable, but stronger too,” Young commented. “But where we differ is where this film comes alive – the standards to which a Paralympian holds themselves to, a ruthless, grinding obsessiveness, a tunnel vision we wouldn’t dare enter.”
Channel 4 Chief Marketing Officer Zaid Al-Qassab added: “Channel 4 has been instrumental in putting the Paralympics onto the world stage. Our award-winning coverage and epic marketing campaigns have possibly done more to help shift society’s perceptions around disability than anything else in the last 20 years. And our hope is that this powerful and provocative film will once again stir viewers and continue Channel 4’s legacy of challenging attitudes and giving a voice to those with disabilities.”
Channel 4’s Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games coverage will include a multi-location studio format and an all-star presenting team and will span more than 300 hours of live coverage (including, in a first for the broadcaster, a dedicated More 4 team sports channel live from Tokyo).
The campaign was created by in-house agency 4creative, the production company was Serial Pictures x Somesuch and media was handled by OMD.
The team was led by Executive Creative Director Lynsey Atkin, Deputy Executive Creative Director Eoin McLaughlin, Creatives Scott Taylor and Andy Shrubsole, Heads of Production James Turnham and Miketta Lane, Executive Producer Shananne Lane, Campaign Producer Louise Oliver, Designer Sarah Jones, Production Manager Will Breeden, Production Assistant Sam Baker, CMO Zaid Al-Qassab, Marketers Penny Brough, Nic Moran, Laura Ward-Smith and James Walker, Marketing Lead Laura Woodcock, Marketing Executives Victoria Cheng and Maya Padhya, Business Director Jane English and Senior Planner James Hamilton.
The director was Bradford Young, with Executive Producer/Managing Director (Somesuch) Seth Wilson, Executive Producer (Serial Pictures) Violaine Etienne, Producer Elena Camisa, Director Of Photography Rina Yang, Production Designer Nathan Von Parker, Costume Designer Jessica Fell, Hair & Make Up Artist Natasha Lawes, Sound Recordist Mike Palmer, Casting Director Kharmel Cochrane, Athlete Casters Shananne Lane and Louise Oliver, 1st Assistant Director Jez Oakley, Production Manager Fatima Zaman, Directors Assistant Saman Aminzadeh, Location Manager Scout Productions, 2nd Unit Director Dan Emmerson and Camera Operator (2nd Unit) Fraser Rigg.
Offline edit was by Final Cut and music was handled by Leland Music, with sound post from Factory and VFX by Time Based Arts and signing/subitiling by RedBee.
Comment:
The Activative team is unanimous that Channel 4/4Creative have nailed it – again.
This was the ‘difficult third album’ and the team was clearly under plenty of scrutiny and pressure after making one of the most acclaimed ads of all time and following it up with further award-winning work.
The Tokyo 2020 creative follows on from its acclaimed Rio 2016 ‘Meet the Superhumans’ and ‘We’re The Superhumans’ films.
Channel 4 (a UK public service broadcaster with a remit to champion diversity and alternative points of view) first won the UK broadcast rights for the London 2012 Paralympic Games (and promoted via a ‘Thanks For The Warm Up‘ campaign) following a competitive pitch: the first time a not-for-profit company had bid and won. And ever since it has led the way in promoting and broadcasting the Paralympics.
Indeed, according to International Paralympic Committee President Andrew Parsons, Channel 4 sets the benchmark “for how all other broadcasters around the world cover the Paralympics, not just in terms of Games-time coverage and the diversity of on-screen talent, but with regards to engagement and promotion”.
The Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games begin on the 24 August 2021 and will span 537 events from 22 sports.
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