The Special Olympics Unified Champion Schools program is aimed at promoting social inclusion in elementary, middle and high schools across the United States. The model offers a unique combination of activities that equip young people with tools and training to create sports, classroom and school climates of acceptance. These are school climates where students with disabilities feel welcome and are included in all activities and opportunities. The program is designed to be woven into the fabric of the school, providing rich opportunities that lead to meaningful change in creating a socially inclusive school that supports and engages all learners.
With over 10,000 Special Olympics Unified Champion Schools in the United States, the program has created inclusive environments for students with and without intellectual disabilities. But exclusion still exists in thousands of schools across the country, and many don't know about the benefits of the Special Olympics Unified Champion Schools program.
Students are often the enablers of Unified programs on campuses. In order to spread the program into more schools across the country, CLICKON Media and Special Olympics engaged with millions of students through a powerful storytelling campaign. Through human stories, we wanted to inspire people on what can happen when we put our differences aside and include others, no matter what their ability. This is the Unified Generation, a digital and social campaign created to show the power of love and empathy in the heart of our education system.
KPI's:
1. Awareness & Engaged Views
2. Driving traffic to GenerationUnified.org
By putting storytelling at the forefront of the campaign, the goal was to empower students from all walks of life and give them a voice to share their stories with the world.
CLICKON Media and Special Olympics created the Unified Generation, a mixed media movement showing how the Special Olympics Unified Champion Schools program is making the world a more inclusive one for people with and without intellectual disabilities. At the backbone of the campaign was the message that everyone has the right to play, learn and live together, no matter what their background or ability.
This wasn't a campaign of traditional ads but one of real human stories. From powerful documentary films and a weekly news show, to a resources website for students to learn more, the campaign aimed to connect with millions of students in high schools and colleges, with dissemination across a range of social media and digital channels. We wanted to speak to a generation of students in a tone that was personal, authentic and impactful.
1. Data-led creative to cut through the noise of social media
In order to deliver maximum impact on a limited budget, we created ideas based on big data. At a time when we have access to billions of data points that provide insight into our target audience, we conducted extensive audience testing to understand how students behave across social media and what content they engage with. These user journey maps provided audience insights to help us ideate content, ensuring we removed any guesswork about our audience. We wanted to turn data into action. We applied advanced data to create a more personalized journey for our audience.
2. Creative Ideation and Strategy
Using the data findings, our creative department worked with Special Olympics to design content that would speak to students in an authentic way. and bolster the understanding that inclusion is necessary in every school in the country, not just some. We also designed and created a custom website specifically to house video assets created by CLICKON Media.
3. Production
Using our award-winning documentary team, we captured real-life stories in schools across the entire country through cinema verite. We captured first-hand experiences of students whose lives have been changed by Special Olympics. By letting real-life situations play out and not manipulating scenes, we were able to paint a realistic picture of the transformative power of Special Olympics Unified Champion Schools, and the students, teachers and principals that fight for inclusion every day.
4. Flash Testing
Social networks and user consumption habits are changing every week. This presented us with a challenge when creating and distributing content to students. Prior to launching content, our social media team created flash testing on content assets, allowing us to pivot on creative that wasn't working and ensure a more streamlined distribution approach.
5.Distribution
Hyper-targeted paid media dissemination across Facebook and Instagram, aimed at students in high school and college who showed interest in inclusion and diversity content.
