The Canadian Down Syndrome Society (CDSS) had a goal of raising awareness of the abilities of their community, on a minuscule budget. But there were two issues:

Issue #1: Too Broad. With a small budget, the CDSS didn’t have the resources to breakthrough to a mass audience. We needed to hone our efforts in two ways: we focused our efforts on people with Down syndrome and their parents, not the general public, and used our strategic process to map a journey of key own-able moments.

Issue #2: Too Expected. The desired creative approach was generic, and frequently employed by disability advocacy groups, “see the ability”. But we knew that simply saying it doesn’t make people believe it.

CDSS is “pro-information”, combatting the stereotypes and stigma of Down syndrome. To fulfill their mission, we set out to demonstrate people with Down syndrome’s humanity instead of merely talking about it.

Our creative platform demonstrated what people with Down syndrome can do. A humanizing approach employed throughout the journey.

Year 1: Have the true experts answer parent’s questions

Down Syndrome Answers - a series of searchable videos where people with Down syndrome answer the 40 top Googled questions on Down syndrome.

Year 2: Make Sorry a Bad Word

Our Down syndrome experts once again explained that any profanity-laden reaction is better than the worst word of all: “Sorry”.

Year 3: Position a community as endangered

To advocate for resources, for the first time in history, a group of people applied to be on the endangered species list.

Year 4: Becoming Google’s teachers

The Down syndrome community became Google’s teachers, changing voice technology for all.

Year 5: Leading a global research study

We led a globally unprecedented study to prove the link between exercise and cognition for the Down syndrome community.