Canadian Paralympic Committee – Where It Begins Campaign for Milano Cortina 2026

The Challenge

Following record-breaking success at Paris 2024—11 million Canadians tuned in, up 119% from Tokyo 2020—the Canadian Paralympic Committee needed their Milano Cortina 2026 campaign to move beyond visibility into genuine connection.

The goal: invite Canadians to become part of the Paralympic Movement by connecting athletes to the communities that shaped them, transforming hometown pride into national support.

But there was a deeper challenge: how do you tell Paralympic athletes’ stories authentically in a media landscape that too often reduces them to “inspiration” narratives rather than celebrating them as elite competitors?

Our Approach: Athletes as Creative Partners

Rather than creating content about Para athletes, we built the campaign with them.

Working alongside CPC’s internal marketing and communications team, Differly Inc., and production partner Dot Dot Dash, we implemented an athlete-centric creative methodology that treated Para athletes as partners throughout the entire process—from concept development through production.

What this looked like in practice:

Athletes weren’t just interview subjects—they shaped every decision:

• Recommended shooting locations that mattered to them
• Selected which family members, coaches, and friends would appear
• Guided the narrative to show themselves as whole people—elite athletes with communities, families, and lives beyond sport
• Ensured content reflected year-round training, not just winter competition
• Pushed back on “inspiration trap” narratives in favour of athletic excellence

The production was documentary-style, capturing authentic moments in their hometowns, training spaces, and places that shaped their journeys. Director Jason van Bruggen and the Dot Dot Dash team created space for real stories to unfold rather than staging manufactured moments.

The Campaign

“Where It Begins” celebrates the people who believed in Paralympic athletes before the world knew their names—the coaches, families, and communities that form the foundation of every journey to the podium.

Scope:

• Flagship broadcast commercial (multiple lengths, both official languages, fully accessible)
• 10+ athlete features across 5 winter Para sports
• Social content series spanning training, competition, and personal stories
• National #FillTheStands fundraising initiative
• Documentary-style production across Canada—from Whistler to Mississauga

Featured athletes:
Tyler Turner, Mollie Jepsen, Alexis Guimond, Kalle Eriksson and guide Sierra Smith, Brittany Hudak, Dominic Cozzolino, Brian Rowland, Ina Forrest, plus Paralympic legend Brian McKeever and nine members of Canada’s Para ice hockey team.

Athlete voices:
English narration by Tyler McGregor (three-time Paralympian, Para ice hockey team captain). French narration by The Honourable Chantal Petitclerc (one of Canada’s most decorated Paralympians).

The Work We Did

Strategic Direction & Creative Partnership

• Developed the athlete-centric creative methodology
• Guided concept development and narrative approach
• Coordinated across CPC’s internal team and Dot Dot Dash
• Ensured authentic athlete voices throughout production

Campaign Strategy

• Multi-platform content strategy for broadcast, digital, and social
• Integration with #FillTheStands fundraising initiative
• Accessibility planning (described video, closed captioning, both official languages)
• Launch and activation strategy

Production Coordination

• Athlete collaboration sessions to uncover authentic stories
• Location and production planning across Canada
• Partnership coordination throughout pre-production, production, and post-production
• Quality control ensuring athlete agency over their narratives
  
  

The Impact

A New Model for Authentic Storytelling
This campaign represents more than marketing—it’s a methodology that demonstrates authentic co-creation doesn’t compromise creative quality, it enhances it.

When athletes have agency over their narratives, the result is content that resonates more deeply with audiences because it reflects genuine human experiences rather than manufactured storylines.

Key outcomes:

• Athletes portrayed as elite competitors first, with disabilities as part of their journey but not their defining characteristic
• Documentary-style content that honours the complexity and humanity of Paralympic sport
• National fundraising initiative that invites Canadians to be part of the support system
• A model other sports organizations can follow for authentic athlete partnerships

What athletes told us:
“My disability is part of my journey, absolutely. But I have so much more to share. My community, my training partners, my goals, my personality—that’s what I want people to connect with.”

Why This Matters

For too long, Para athletes have been portrayed through narratives they didn’t control—reduced to inspiration rather than celebrated for athletic excellence. “Where It Begins” addresses this directly by putting athletes in the director’s chair.

The result: content that serves both the athletes (authentic representation) and the audience (genuine connection) while driving real outcomes for CPC (visibility, fundraising, community engagement).

This approach represents what’s possible when mission-driven organizations are willing to share creative control with the communities they serve—and when marketing partners are committed to authentic collaboration over convenient narratives.

Partners

• Differly Inc. (Willow Grey fulfills Differly’s fractional marketing leadership contract with the CPC)
• Canadian Paralympic Committee (internal marketing, communications and brand team)
• Dot Dot Dash (Jason Van Bruggen and Blaine Pearson)