On the International Day of Persons with Disabilities 2013, Croatian Paralympic Committee introduced its new communication campaign entitled You can underestimate me as a person, but not as an athlete.
The goal of the campaign is to influence public awareness, especially of sports institutions, about the unequal status of Paralympic athletes. The fact that needs to be highlited is the Athlete of the Year selection, where the Paralympic athletes are completely left out.
The campaign features successful and well know athletes, medal winners: javelin thrower Branimir Budetić, long jumper Mikela Ristoski, swimmers Matija Grebenić and Kristijan Vincetić and the table tennis player Anđela Mužinić.
It’s shocking how Paralympic athletes are ignored in the Athlete of the Year selection, even though they achieve top results. In life as in sports, they are symbols of persistence, asceticism and consistency, despite their disability. So the campaign wants to show all the joy and renunciation needed for any kind of sport, such as Paralympic sports.
The slogan intentionally paraphrases a well-known saying You can underestimate me as (…), but not as a person. Unfortunately many people nevertheless underestimate people with disabilities, so this campaign speaks to them directly saying – if you already underestimate me as a person, you cannot underestimate me as an athlete because my sports results say otherwise.
The agency Bruketa&Žinić OM started their collaboration with Croatian Paralympic Committee in 2010 with this campaign: It’s what we lack that makes us stronger.
Bruketa&Žinić OM / Dragan Lakićević, Nikola Žinić, Davor Bruketa (Creative Directors), Ivanka Mabić Gagić (Account Director), Ivan Čepelak, Vanja Činić, Marko Matijašević, (Copywriters), Valentina Bugarin (Account Executive), Martina Marinić (Designer), Radovan Radičević (DTP)
CiV / Dijana Vetturelli, Viktor Vetturelli
PAKT MEDIA
Gregor Vesel
Damjan Radovanović
Tina Fras
Anja Opašić
Saša Bijelić
Silvija Bradica
Domagoj Kunić
Dafne Jemeršić
Marko Ferković
Dubravko Robić
Ivan Karabelj
Bahrudin Sardupalović
Filip Šovagović
Django Django – Wor / Because Music
Tuna Film
Lav Rasvjeta
CRAFT // Close Range Aerial Filming Team
Teleking
Bold Studio
Livada Produkcija
iSTUDIO
Organizacija Zagreb