Challenge:The Dutch Ministry of Social Affairs wanted attention among students with a mental or physical disability, about a new law that helps disabled people to get a job. Secondary goal was to create awareness among the general public, including employers, of the fact that disabled people are capable of much more than we can imagine. So we were faced with the challenge of combining a highly targeted campaign with national spin-off, on a budget of only 600K euro.Strategy:Why would we tell people that disabled youngsters are capable of incredible things, if they can prove it themselves? Show, don’t tell!Concept:We invited all eligible Dutch students to participate in making their own TV -commercial and used this invitation to inform them about the new law. Eventually we selected 19 students who, under our guidance, wrote a script for a TVC, which they executed together with a professional crew.Results:During the process, regional press followed all students, covering their progress. The main TVC was aired on national TV and resulted in nationwide news coverage and attention in popular TV shows. A making-of DVD, including a booklet with relevant information, was sent out to potential employers.

First, an invitation was sent out to all teachers of Dutch special schools for disabled people. This invitation contained a DVD with an explanation of the project and all necessary info about the new law. The students were asked to go to a special website and upload their profile and a brief text about themselves. Eventually we selected 19 students who, under our guidance, got three workshops in concepts and production techniques before coming up with a script for a TVC. In the meantime we invited regional press to ‘follow’ a student from their region in producing the TVC and asked the students to keep a blog on the website. During the shooting day, they executed the TVC with help from a professional production crew. This TVC was aired on national TV and the minister himself hosted an official cinema premiere. We sent out a press release to national press, covering the whole project. Finally, DVDs containing the TVC, a making-of film and specific info about the law was spread to potential employers.

The campaign succeeded in informing the students (and their teachers and parents as a positive side effect), by sending out 450 invitations packages to special schools for disabled children. The second target, of creating awareness among the general public and employers, was met as well. Every major regional newspaper and/or radio station featured a profile of one of the participating students and eventually the whole project made the national news. Moreover, the whole crew was features in Holland’s most popular entertainment TV show ‘Lieve Paul’, with an audience of over 1 million. Total media value of the campaign was 750K euro, which was more than the total campaign budget. Some of the 19 participating students still get calls to inform others about the experience they had throughout the country.