A new celebratory brand refresh and advertising campaign for the Canadian Paralympic Committee (CPC) dropped this month, just in time to build momentum for the 2024 Summer Games in Paris.

The Paralympic Games will run later this summer, beginning on Aug. 28, in Paris, and a new campaign, called “Greatness Moves Us” highlights some of the Para athletes competing at the upcoming Games. A new spot for the campaign showcases top Canadian Para athletes like Sheriauna Haase, Noah Vucsics and Tamara Steeves in action and in personal moments preparing for competition.

Canadian Paralympic Committee director of marketing and communications Erin Blaskie says the new campaign and identity for the brand is more vibrant and celebratory than past efforts. 

She says a great deal of direct consultation was done with Para athletes and member organizations so athletes would feel represented by the work, and to ensure the campaign aligned with the committee’s goals of highlighting inclusion on and off the field.

“We definitely heard that it’s time to celebrate our Canadian Para athletes, especially since this is the first major Games since COVID, this is probably going to be the biggest Games we’ve had since London 2012,” Blaskie tells strategy.

The campaign includes TV advertising running on CBC/Radio-Canada that features Canadian Para athletes, as well as footage of significant moments in Canadian Para sport history. The campaign is designed to create more fans of the Canadian Paralympic team, while also connecting the committee’s brand to an overall pursuit of and potential for greatness.

The goal is to position the team and its athletes in a bold light, and to highlight the transformative power of Para sports, while also showcasing the skill and charisma of the athletes themselves.

“It really positions the athletes in a light where we can start to make these athletes household names,” Blaskie says. She adds that the CPC has already heard feedback that viewers want to know more about the athletes featured in the spot after seeing it, making the campaign a starting point for Para sports fandom.

“We do really want it to have that celebratory feel where you just get hyped up, you’re ready to watch, learn more and connect with the athletes.”

The updated brand identity and campaign is highlighted by an effort to ensure it’s accessible and inclusive in its look to an extent that sets the CPC apart, Blaskie notes. The work includes an accessible custom font, Para movement graphic designs 3D mapped for Para athlete footage, colour blocking behind text to make it highly legible, custom-created music for both English and French, and described video in both languages as well. She adds that accessibility was at the forefront in developing a new website for the CPC, as well.

“We always have to balance out the creativity side with also thinking about accessibility and inclusion, making that the best it can possibly be, and wherever possible, trying to lead in that area,” Blaskie says.

Vancouver-based creative agency Will worked with the CPC on the brand refresh, with the goal of aligning it with the CPC’s new 10-year strategic plan to create more Para sports fans in Canada, and change the way people view these sports. The agency oversaw community consultations that contributed to an overall goal of rallying the public and community in Canada.

Will’s founder and chief creative officer Nick Richards says the agency’s aim in working with the CPC was to connect Canadian culture with Para sport, and devise a platform that pushed for and valued inclusivity for everyone in Canada, while still celebrating Para athletes who represent the country on a global stage. Richards says he saw an opportunity here to build the CPC’s brand.

“There’s been, historically, a strong sense of organizational strategy and what their role as an organization is,” Richards tells strategy. 

“But the opportunity that we identified was to help distill that foundation into something that was intended to inspire behaviour and action and, of course, the way that this brand shows up in the world through campaign, ideas, concepts, visual identity and messaging.” 

The campaign, which is running in both English and French, includes TV, OOH, digital and social components.