Downsyndroom Vlaanderen is an organisation of parents of people with Down syndrome. Their mission is to help integrate, support and encourage these people in today’s society. Unfortunately, people still laugh at people with Down syndrome. It’s even widely accepted to do so.

One of the main reasons of mockery is their looks. Their body is shaped differently, so finding clothes is difficult. On top of that, it’s their parents who decide what they wear. So we decided not to tell people to stop mocking them, but we tried to change the thing people are laughing at: their look.

How? With the Down Makeover. A complete restyling of people with Down by Belgium’s top stylists, who gave tips and tricks to help these people look more fashionable. A group of people with Down syndrome were invited and during the Down Makeover they transformed into proud and happy people who showed their new style on the catwalk.

To make sure this positive image spreads across the country, we needed the right kind of journalists in our seats. So we made a list of the top tier media we needed to report about this story and invited them to the catwalk event. We sent them a making-of video, before-and-after pictures and promised them direct access to the Down syndrome people and their parents. Not only 1 187 736 people read the articles, one of Belgium’s biggest fashion retailers is considering a fashion line especially adapted to the needs of people with Down.

Through the organisation Downsyndroom Vlaanderen we selected 9 candidates for the make over. We made sure there were people with different ages and types of body in the group to gain information and clothing tips for every person with Down.

They all got a professional make over by Belgium’s top stylists, supported by a fashion retailer who let them use their fashion collections for free.

A small film crew followed the whole process and before-and-after pictures were taken. Together with an invitation to the catwalk event, we sent this visual material to journalists.

The fashion show was organized on the World Down syndrome day, March 21st 2012. All of our targeted media were present. After the show our models got several interviews and had their pictures taken.

The week after that, the story appeared in magazines, newspapers, news websites, blogs and television reports all over the country.

-All of the journalists we targeted were present on the catwalk event and every one of them reported the right message, in the right tone of voice and with the right emotion.

-1 187 736 people read the articles, that’s more than one in 6 people of the Dutch part of Belgium, our targeted audience.

-All media appearances together were worth €153 670, which was 1280 % of the campaign budget (which was only €12 000)

-A useful list of styling tips put together by our stylists was put online to be available to all parents of people with Down syndrome.

-One of Belgium’s biggest fashion retailers is considering a fashion line especially adapted to the needs of people with Down.