During research we found shocking statistics:

Employers in Russia don’t hire people with Down syndrome.

ONLY 4 are officially employed in a country of 146 000 000 people.

Russian society doesn’t believe people with Down syndrome can work.

As a result adults with Down syndrome have no chance to live a full life.

Also we found out there is PLENTY OF WORK at any pet hotel. Being away from their owners, dogs always need extra care and attention. And most importantly, dogs don’t notice disabilities and accept everyone the way they are.

We had an IDEA to inspire a real pet hotel to hire people with Down syndrome.

In partnership with DownsideUp charitable foundation we found 5 young people with Down syndrome willing to work and inspired a real dog hotel “Hors” to hire them for 3 months.

The experiment was filmed and the “pUp syndrome” film came into being.

We created a unique social experiment and filmed it throughout its length. This is how “pUp syndrome” film came into being. It tells an inspiring story about the gradual progress of 5 young people with Down syndrome working in dog hotel “Hors” alongside dogs. The film shows that unlike Russian employers, dogs don’t see a disability and accept the young employees just as they are.

The story flow is built on interviews of the project participants: psychologists, mothers, dog hotel staff. During the project it became clear to everyone that the dogs’ kind nature helped the guys open up and reveal their professional potential.

The film spotlights the conclusion: people with Down syndrome deserve to be employed.

It was launched on Russian YouTube on World Down Syndrome Day and supported by a widescale PR campaign.

DownsideUp Charitable foundation confirms numerous calls from potential employers who offer to hire a person with Down syndrome to work in the office/in a café/in trade.

Seeing the demand DownsideUp opened a new department of professional adaptation for people with Down syndrome.

Mars company committed to employ people with Down syndrome in a new dog centre in Ulyanovsk region, which will open in 2017.

The project officially became the First Professional Adaptation Programme for people with Down syndrome in Russia.

On YouTube “pUp syndrome” film got 7 250 000 views at Average View Duration of 2,5 minutes.

The project was covered twice by national TV at prime time and other national and regional media including TV, radio and social, which brought $ 1 117 778 USD of earned media. Total views of the film reached 24 000 000. The campaign brought 201 610 504 media impressions.