Even though he was born without legs, Blake Leeper never saw himself as different or disabled. Against every odd, he overcame the hurdles in his life to become a multi-record holding Paralympic track-and-field champion. Blake was set to become only the second Paralympian ever to run against able-bodied athletes in the 2020 Olympics. But when the games got delayed to 2021, an oversight ruling body declared his prosthetic blades gave him an unfair advantage. And so, one of the fastest athletes in the world would not go on to compete in Tokyo. It was this story that compelled us to spotlight and follow Blake Leeper’s journey and make him an advocate for Facebook Portal’s mission to “share something real.” It was a chance for this Paralympic runner to share his story in hopes of breaking stereotypes and barriers.
In this social video for Facebook Portal we tell Blake’s story and dive into the aftermath of that life-changing verdict that prevented him from going to the Olympic games. Through the connective power of various Portal devices, we demonstrate how invaluable the support of loved ones can be during life’s most challenging times. We see touches of Portal moments throughout the film, which culminates in a real-time surprise group call over Portal TV – all in support of this champion. In this emotional moment, we bring together the people who matter the most to Blake to offer him the support he needs to keep pushing and striving forward to create meaningful change at the highest levels of sport competition. This video was pushed out over Facebook Portal’s organic social channels to spread a message of persistence, acceptance and love. Through the power of Facebook Portal, we showed that even though we can’t always be together, life’s biggest hurdles don’t have to be faced alone.
Overall, the “Fastest Man With No Legs” campaign exceeded expectations and was a huge success for Facebook Portal, garnering 4.2 million impressions with a 87% positive sentiment from the audience.
