When marketing changed the games

How a campaign shifted Paralympic perception

In 1988 the Paralympics was staged in Seoul. Unless you were at the games, you probably wouldn’t have known they were happening. There was no live broadcast in the UK – just a 15-minute highlights reel once the games had finished.

Fast forward to 2020 and the Paralympics in Tokyo was broadcasted for over 300 hours, and watched live by 16.4 million people – nearly a third of the UK population.

Public perception shifted. Paralympians are now rightly seen in the UK as world class athletes, and that will no doubt be reflected in the Paris viewing figures later this summer. But that shift wasn’t a gradual process over time. It needed a catalyst to open peoples’ eyes. And it came in the shape of a Channel 4 marketing campaign.

Written off from the start

It was the build up to London 2012. Channel 4 were due to take on coverage of the Paralympic games, when the then chairman of the London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games, Sebastian Coe, told the broadcaster “you’ve got a hill to climb” to get people tuning in.

At the time, the games were seen as a second cousin to the main event. Channel 4 chief marketing and communications officer Dan Brooke in Marketing Week said that research revealed there was an “activistic belief that Paralympians were never going to be as fast, as strong, or have the same endurance as Olympic athletes.”

The Channel 4 marketing team knew that perception couldn’t be further from reality. They just needed a killer idea to open peoples’ eyes.  

From underdogs to unparalleled

Their campaign “Meet the Superhumans” completely turned public opinion on its head, elevating Paralympians to super human status.

It forced people to throw out any beliefs they had about speed, skill, strength and endurance. Lifting the lid on training camps, and the moments of competition and stories that led to their disability, Channel 4 simply showed Paralympians for what they were – high-performing athletes.

Shattering PBs and making a long-lasting impact

Sir Philip Craven, president of the International Paralympic Committee between 2001 and 2017 gave the campaign the highest praise of all: “In my view, the ground breaking campaign did more to change perceptions of Paralympic sport in 90 seconds than probably the last 10 years of activity put together.”

It delivered Channel 4’s highest ratings in a decade, and some of the highest in the broadcaster’s history. And it went beyond changing perceptions of disabled athletes – it helped to shift representation in the media too.

The campaign led to the launch of “The Last Leg”, which included two main hosts from the disabled community, Adam Hills and Alex Brooker.

The show was only meant to be a commentary piece for the 2012 Paralympics. 12 years on and it’s grown into a staple on the Channel 4 schedule.

The lesson: simplicity and consistency win the race

It doesn’t happen every day, but when a great idea hits, marketing can be a powerful tool. And a lot of the time, the strength in the idea comes from keeping it simple.

Take nothing away from Channel 4 – a lot of time and craft would’ve obviously gone on behind the scenes to make that campaign work – but they didn’t change anything or try any dark-art trickery. Paralympians were always incredible athletes – Channel 4 just reframed the narrative so everyone could see it.

The broadcaster went on to run two iterations of the campaign for the following two Paralympic games. “We’re the Superhumans” in Rio, 2016. And “Super. Human” in Tokyo in 2020.

Which just goes to show – if you’re building a brand and you find an idea that’s working, just run with it.