PARALYMPIC COMMITTEE RUSHES ACROSS QUEBEC
By Brian Dunn
The Canadian Paralympic Committee is encouraging Canadians with physical disabilities to get involved in sports through a grassroots awareness campaign and through its FeelTheRush.ca website created by Optimum Public Relations, Vancouver.
A tour of Francophone communities and rehabilitation centres in Quebec and Ontario, called The Canadian Feel The Rush Quebec Tour, is being used as a pilot project that may expand across the country, said Gabrielle Payette, public relations co-ordinator, Canadian Paralympic Committee.
“We decided to focus on French Canada, because the French community hasn’t really been involved in the campaign and because we have a limited budget from Sports Canada,” she said.
“We have a TV campaign running on Radio-Canada until Sept. 6 and our Quebec tour, which runs until mid-August, is getting help from Défi sportif, an international sporting event for elite and up-and-coming athletes with all types of disabilities.” The TV creative was done by Radio-Canada’s production company.
The tour is called Feel the Rush because it represents the “rush” of confidence and empowerment that comes with enjoying sports on a daily basis, Payette explained.
The first phase of the campaign was launched during the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin. This second phase focuses on summer sports and has been expanded in scope, said Anna Parisi, account director at Optimum.
Former wheelchair racer Jacques Bouchard spoke in Gatineau about his experience as a Paralympian, and how sport played a major role for him personally.
Another goal of the tour is to promote the participation of Quebec athletes at the next Paralympic Games, Sept. 6-17 in Beijing, China.
Other objectives include demonstrating that sport can be used in the rehabilitation of people who have been injured and educating people in each of the regions about the resources available on adaptive sports.
Originally published in Marketing Magazine, July 2008
Copyright: “Copyright 2008. Marketingmag.ca All Rights Reserved”
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