Title	SPECIAL OLYMPICS - KEVIN DE BRUYNE
Brand	SPECIAL OLYMPICS BELGIUM
Product/Service	SPECIAL OLYMPIC SUMMER GAMES BELGIUM
Category	C08. Charities, Public Health, Safety & Awareness Messages
Entrant Company	LDV UNITED Antwerp, BELGIUM
Advertising Agency	LDV UNITED Antwerp, BELGIUM
Production Company	THE PICKLES PHOTOGRAPHY Anderlecht, BELGIUM

Name	Company	Position
Bart Gielen	Ldv United	Creative Director
Kristof Janssens	Ldv United	Planning Director
Petra De Roos	Ldv United	Managing Director
Thomas Thysens	Ldv United	Art Director
Ruben Van Maldeghem	Ldv United	Copywriter
Han Verschaeren	Ldv United	Art Director
Tine Bongaert	Ldv United	Copywriter
Jeffrey Uten	Ldv United	Designer
Eline Goethals	Ldv United	Strategic Planner
Niki Desiron	Ldv United	Motion Designer
Astrid Claus	Ldv United	Account Executive

The Brief

More than 2.000 intellectual disabled athletes from 58 countries train for years in anticipation of the Special Olympics Summer Games in Antwerp. Nonetheless the Special Olympics are unknown. Nobody visits or talks about the event, and they’re often confused with the Paralympics. Our goal was to fill stadiums, but to get people to buy tickets for the Games, we first break the taboo around people with intellectual disabilities. We needed to really touch people. So we used the fame of Kevin De Bruyne, a national football hero, and his social media network to reach our public.

Campaign Success

Sports heroes get lots of attention on social media. What do they do with it? Put themselves in the spotlight. We wanted to use this attention to put the Special Olympics in the spotlight. So we created a controversial portrait: we used the eyes of a Special Olympian and the fame of a national football hero, Kevin De Bruyne. We let Kevin post this portrait on his social media channels with the following question: “Would you still be a fan if I looked like this?” The question spoke directly to everyone who came across the post. The results of this first post exceeded our wildest expectations. It got people thinking. Within 12 hours all eyes were on us: the ideal moment for the Special Olympics to claim the portrait and tell their story and get people to buy tickets for the Games.

Describe the success of the promotion with both client and consumer including some quantifiable results

One post, with one thought-provoking portrait and a controversial question, managed to start a dialogue between thousands of people. Within the first 24 hours our first post alone got 1.400 shares and more than 150.000 likes, exceeding our expectations. It left no one untouched. All Belgian news channels covered Kevin’s remarkable social media move. National radio & TV and every big national newspaper published our portrait both on- and offline. All together, zero euros in paid media generated a stunning 4 million euros in earned media. We raised awareness and broke the taboo. But most importantly, this led to a SOLD OUT opening and closing ceremony and around 5.000 supporters in our stadiums, every day. We gave our athletes the attention they deserve.

Explain why the method of promotion was most relevant to the product or service

For the first time since it's existence, the 2014 Special Olympic games took place in Antwerp Belgium. But, the Special Olympics Summer Games gain no attention, are unknown or confused with the Paralympics. This means that, despite of their admirable efforts, the more than 5.000 Special Olympians perform the most important games of their lives in front of empty stadiums: there’s no crowd, no attention, nothing. It was our job to raise AWARENESS and to convert the awareness into Ticket sales.