Communications about Paralympic sport has shifted since London 2012. In the run up to the Rio Games this summer, BP releases a film series highlighted Paralympic achievement. Brittany Golob reports.

The visual spectacle of a frieght train barreling around a turn at an impossible speed is striking. Thus begins one of BP’s Energy Within films of Paralympic athletes. This particular film focuses on German Paralympic sprinter David Behre as the shot shifts from the train to the runner himself in the shower with prosthetic legs nearby.

Those powerful first five seconds of film have been enough to hook over 1.7m viewers thus far. The video clocks in at 1:15 minutes, but the emotional impact runs longer.

The film is part of a series being released in the run up to the Paralympic Games in Rio by BP, one of the international partners of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), the governing body for Paralympic sport. The series is years in the making for BP. The company was an Olympic partner for London 2012 in which it had a presence at the Games and promoted its focus on a more fuel-efficient future. Since, BP has shifted its attention to the IPC specifically because of the shared values between the two organisations.

“We saw quite a lot of alignment between the values of what Paralympic sport stands for and the values of our organisation. We saw Paralympic sport as being on the rise. 2012 was hugely successful for it and we saw a lot of interest in it, a lot of coverage around it and public appetite for it, and we saw an opportunity to build up a partnership with the International Paralympic Committee at that time,” says BP’s brand communications manager Mark Rose.

BP avoided some of the busy Olympics news cycle by releasing its first film in the Energy Within series in December 2015. The fast-paced film introduces athletes BP has supported in their Paralympic journeys. The series, created in association with London-based visual communications agency PSONA Films, now features one team-based film and three athlete-centric ones, with more to come before the Games begin.

In telling the Paralympic story, PSONA Films visualised the journey and challenges that Paralympic athletes must overcome in order to reach the pinnacle of sporting achievement. To do so, it turned to a use of emotionally-driven CGI and personal narration to tell individual stories in a compelling way. “The overriding feeling is the fire that burns within,” says PSONA Films’ MD Katy Eyre. “It’s the desire to overcome immense challenges to become the very best you can be. But with this, we were taking a much more personal look.”

The films draw that personal element out through the use of first-person narration, spoken by the athletes themselves and powerful images that complement their stories. For David Behre, the train is a direct analogy to the accident that cost him his legs. In the final seconds of the film, Behre is sprinting alongside the train, on blades, hoping to outpace it. The emotion is intensified as Behre edges out the train in the end, thereby finding the energy within and completing his journey.

Viewers are treated to this moment of redemption through his success.
The journey is where it all began, for the video production process. Behre, and the other two athletes that have been highlighted thus far – Dutch sprinter Marlou van Rhijn and Azerbaijani judoka Ilham Zakiyev – are all athletes supported by BP through its partnership with the IPC. To develop the series, PSONA Films interviewed each of the chosen athletes for about 45 minutes to understand their paths to athletic success. From the initial conversations, the production team then distilled each story down to just over a minute’s worth of script. “We crunched down those words to be the essence of [Behre’s] energy and then after that, it was a question of visualising it,” Eyre says.

“The thing I’m most proud of is how we’ve captured the motivation and how that sits within Paralympic sport in the films. They’re very aesthetic, very appropriate, really capturing the essence of what Paralympic sport is.”

PSONA Films didn’t shy away from the use of CGI to create a strong impact and to help viewers visualise the weight of the challenges these athletes have overcome. For Behre, the train is nightmarish, fast and unstoppable. However, the visuals are complemented by the story of each individual’s training regime, motivational drivers and spirit – characteristics that originally drew BP to the IPC. Rose says, “The thing I’m most proud of is how we’ve captured the motivation and how that sits within Paralympic sport in the films. They’re very aesthetic, very appropriate, really capturing the essence of what Paralympic sport is. And I think that should show us as a good partner.”

Communications around the Paralympic Games and Paralympic sport have evolved since London 2012. The London Games were arguably the most successful Paralympic Games in history as more interest, media attention and sponsorship was drawn to them and to the stories of each incredible athlete. BP was not the only brand to recognise that, but it has aligned its partnership well through the Energy Within value.

In Sochi and in the run up to Rio, the Paralympics has been more a part of the overall Olympic conversation. Eyre and Rose say that communication about Paralympic sport is shifting away from expository, ‘day-in-the-life’ documentaries to more insightful, personal storytelling in the same style about which Olympic athletes are communicated.

Eyre adds, “2012 was so successful and it really raised the bar in terms of awareness and appreciation of Paralympic sport. I think those kinds of standard documentaries have been done. How do you move that on? I think in this campaign, that’s exactly what we’ve worked very hard to do – move it on to be something much more inspirational.” She says the Paralympics before 2012 was still a novelty. Now that Paralympic athletes are viewed in the same way as are able-bodied athletes, the communications can shift as well.

There are other challenges surrounding the Olympic and Paralympic period, though. The global TV audience for London 2012 was 3.64m people worldwide. In addition to TV advertising, sponsorship on Olympic sites and online sponsor activity, there is social media and communications from non-Olympic sponsors. It is a crucial period during which brands must maintain a consistent message and voice.

BP’s consistency of messaging prior to and throughout the Paralympic Games may help it achieve cut-through during this period. It also began releasing its films in December, when there was far less competition for viewers of Paralympic content. “It will prove to be an advantage by having released a few films beforehand,” says Rose. “We’ve established the way we’re communicating, we’ve established our partnership with the IPC and then, a bit more strongly, we have activity in the lead up to Rio.” BP will complement the Energy Within films with print advertising and social content. The IPC also liked the films so much, it shared them on its own platforms and channels.

Eyre says the style of the films itself goes a long way to achieving cut-through because each has an initial hook in the first five seconds and is visually and emotionally impactful. This too, reflects the change in communications style in general from 2012. Eyre says, “When I look at 2012, we’re communicating in a very different way in 2016. If you can engage the viewer on an emotional level, the impact, the shareability, the memorability, is so much stronger.”

Behre’s race against the train is the pinnacle of that emotional journey. As the speed builds and he begins to lag, it’s doubtful he’ll catch up. But, finding his internal motivation, Behre beats the locomotive and reaches Rio, where the Paralympic stage awaits.