6 intellectually disabled athletes boldly challenge sport stars to bring it on.

Background

Social Isolation is still the nr 1 problem for people with an intellectual disability. Unified Sports creates social inclusion through sports, by letting people with and without intellectual disabilities play on the same team.

Special Olympics wanted to introduce Play Unified for the first time in Belgium. The challenge was to not only create awareness, but also set an example on what Unified Sports is and what it can accomplish.

Idea

Not reaching out to other athletes with a charity-like approach and tone of voice,

but letting athletes with an intellectual disability dare top sport stars the way sporters talk amongst each other. With a lot of guts, and a shared love for the sport they both like to play.

6 athletes with an intellectual disability challenged 6?top sport stars. On their turf. Direct messages were placed on their daily routes, training courts and social walls. For example: a message on wheels literally followed Olympic Champion Greg Van Avermaet on bike, and Belgium's most famous swimmer Pieter Timmers found himself eye in eye with a huge canvas on the bottom of his swimming pool. These surprises and the bold tone of voice made it impossible for them not to share, generating lots of social and media support both online and offline.

Even the coach of Belgium's national soccer team added 8 players with an intellectual disability to his official selection. Which he announced during the official press conference on September 30. The coach's statement became an important example of acceptance to other clubs in Belgium.

Each challenge that got accepted, each game that was played generated new content and more talking about Play Unified.

Results

Reach: 55.238.500

Paid media: €0

Earned media: €2.995.768