2022 Winner

CASE SUMMARY

Forget everything you think you know about para-sports. Because although Wheelchair Rugby is one, it sure doesn’t feel like it. This gritty sport is exciting, tough, and frankly quite intense to watch, perfect for fans of contact sports.

The International Wheelchair Rugby Federation (IWRF) is the global governing body for the sport of Wheelchair Rugby. While this organization has done a great job of maintaining the sport since its inception in 1977, in order to really break through to the next level of fandom, sponsorship, and participation, they required a complete reappraisal of the brand. With no media budget to do so, the agency saw the Tokyo Paralympics as the perfect opportunity to kick things
off with a bang.

There’s no shortage of award winning work in the para-sports category. The issue is that in trying to break through the obvious stigmas surrounding this category, most ads end up falling into the stereotypical, “inspiration porn” tropes, focusing on the disability rather than the sport. Inspiration porn is the objectification of people with disabilities to be inspiration for able-bodied people, and doesn’t account for how the athletes actually feel about their sport. One athlete commented, “I want everyone to recognize that this is an interesting sport, not as a sport for people with disabilities”. This became their brief: elevating the sport beyond its category, and reframing the conversation to be about raw athleticism, not disability. They needed to show that wheelchair rugby athletes don’t play to inspire others, they play to win.

Similar to how athletes smash into each other throughout the game, they decided to take the typical “inspirational” trope and smash it to pieces. Their new brand platform became, “Here to Win”.

They launched during Paralympics with a bold digital content strategy, featuring bias-busting headlines such as “There are no points for trying your best” and “It really is about whether you win or lose”. Then, they launched their film: a story outlining the real journey of a junior wheelchair rugby player training to eventually face off against his hero (Olympian Zak Madell), only to have Madell show him no mercy in the heat of the match. This film lived on their digital and social channels, as well as on TV during the Paralympic Games.

They also gave the brand itself an exciting refresh. They renamed the IWRF to World Wheelchair Rugby (aligning with the naming convention of World Rugby), assigned it a new colour scheme and typography, and designed a new, dynamic logo that leverages
the initials, WWR.

The overhaul didn’t go unnoticed. International trade publications picked up the story for the unprecedented change in tone for a parasport. Pre, during, and post the Paralympics they achieved 454,648 impressions on social media, saw a 23% increase of Instagram followers, and visits to the new website doubled. All with
no paid media.

But most important of all, the athletes that actually play the game finally felt like they had been represented.

Credits

Agency: Cossette
Title: Here to Win

Chief Creative Officer: Peter Ignazi
Executive Creative Directors: Craig McIntosh, Jaimes Zentil
Associate Creative Directors: Jake Bundock, Ryan Kukec
Senior Art Director: Chris Walker
Senior Copywriter: Pete MacInnis
Group Creative Director, Head of Design: Luis Coderque
Creative Director: Mark Balson
Designer: Paula Dopuda
Senior Designer: Chelsea Palmer
Producer: Nan Row
Senior Strategist: Bella Iannetta
Director, Branding & Design Strategy: Chelito Rubio
Group VP, Head of Strategy: Max Keane
Chief Strategy Officer: Cat Wiles
Account Coordinator: Nathaniel Lazare
Account Supervisor: Aline Cleve
Group Business Director: Asmait Hailu
SVP, General Manager: Kathy McGuire

Production Co: MERCHANT
Director: Alex Hulsey
Line Producer: Ellie Winston
DOP: Farhad Ghaderi
PM: Vlad Motorykin
PD: Britt Skelly
Wardrobe: Adelle Gaudet
Head of Production: Sara Alfaro
Executive Producer: Ian Webb
Online Facility: alter ego
Senior Colourist: Wade Odlum
Colour Assistant: Jonah Venneri
Lead VFX Artist: David Whiteson
VFX Assistant: Saba Zahir
Producer: Andrew Tavares
Executive Producer: Hilda Pereira
Casting: Mann Casting
Casting Director: Steven Mann
Offline Edit: Saints Editorial
Editor: Ross Birchall
Jr. Editor: Paula Hicks
Producer: Bobbi Debman
Executive Producer: Michelle Rich
Audio (Sound Design & Mix): Berkeley Inc.
Creative Director - Jared Kuemper
Executive Producer - Tyna Maerzke
Music Studio: Barking Owl
Creative Director: Kelly Bayett
Producer: Hannah Alter
Composer: David Radley

Client: World Wheelchair Rugby
Chief Executive Officer: Steve Griffiths
President: Richard Allcroft
Board Director: Martin Richard