‘Careful and consistent’: Inside Channel 4’s Paralympics pivot

Marketers often stress the importance of consistency and the power of distinctive brand assets, and many would be reluctant to walk away from a proven platform.

Since 2012, Channel 4 had found success with its ‘Superhumans’ brand platform for the Paralympic Games. However, for the 2024 Paris Paralympics, the broadcaster made the decision to take a new creative direction.

“It was quite scary actually, because Superhumans is a very distinctive asset for the Paralympics,” says Channel 4 CMO Katie Jackson.

Channel 4 has held the UK broadcast rights to the Paralympics since 2012, when it took over from the BBC. Last year, its coverage reached 20 million viewers across linear and streaming, delivering its biggest weekly TV audience share since the London 2012 Paralympics.

On social, content generated 41 million views across YouTube, TikTok and Instagram. Channel 4 also recorded 2.4 million livestreams and 2.1 million non-live views on its YouTube streaming platform.

We uncovered that the biggest reason why people were watching the Paralympics was to watch disabled people ‘overcome’ their disability – That’s a pretty gross reason.

Katie Jackson, Channel 4

“[People] always thought the Paralympics were a sideshow to the Olympics, but actually, we think it’s the main event,” explains Jackson.

Part of this success was moving from its Superhumans campaign to its ‘Considering What?’ campaign – both created by Channel 4’s in-house creative agency 4creative. The campaign won the Grand Prix for Film at this year’s Cannes Lions.

“I was nervous because, A, we were moving away from ‘Superhumans’, which has a lot of equity, and B, because Channel 4 is a brand that does not point fingers, so the way we executed it had to be very light, but still make the point,” Jackson says. “But because we have done it so carefully and consistently since 2012, it’s quite powerful.”

Transitioning from Superhumans

The ‘Meet the Superhumans’ campaign burst onto screens in 2012 to promote the London Paralympics, before returning for the Rio Paralympics in 2016 as ‘We’re the Superhumans’, and then again for the Tokyo 2020 games as ‘Super.Human’.

Following the 2012 Games, some four in five viewers said their attitudes towards disabled people had changed for the better. The 2016 campaign achieved a similar impact.

But research ahead of the 2016 Games revealed a disconnect. Jackson admits data from the disabled community found that Superhumans was only talking about disabled athletes, rather than the disabled community, which felt “somewhat othering for other disabled individuals who may not be able to compete in sport at an elite level”.

The 2016 campaign also drew criticism from parts of the disabled community. “It received quite a lot of backlash about the idea that describing someone with a disability meant they were somehow not human by calling them superhuman,” she admits.‘Growing sense of agility’: Channel 4’s CMO on transitioning to the C-suite

Jackson, who was promoted to CMO in July 2024 after serving as managing director of 4creative, succeeded Zaid Al-Qassab, who led marketing from 2019. Al-Qassab had inherited the Superhumans legacy for the delayed 2020 games from former CMO Dan Brooke.

“It was all around the everyday human grit that it takes to be an amazing athlete, regardless of ability, whether you’re a participant in the Paralympics or in the Olympics,” Jackson says of the 2020 campaign. “So a lot of equity in the words, but once you’ve smashed out the idea itself visually on screen, where do you go from there?”

Heading into the 2024 games, further research prompted Channel 4 to move away from the superhuman narrative entirely.

“We uncovered that the single biggest reason why people were watching the Paralympics in the first place was to watch disabled people ‘overcome’ their disability,” says Jackson. “That’s a pretty gross reason, because it seems to be ignoring the very pure athletic prowess that it takes to participate in a sporting event.”

Over half (59%) of people said they watch the Paralympic Games to “see athletes overcoming their disabilities”, whereas just 37% said they watch the Paralympics for “exciting sporting competition”.

Because of this finding, Channel 4 wanted to find a way to “call it out”. The 2024 campaign flipped the perspective. It challenged viewers’ well-meaning but patronising remarks, like being amazed an athlete could perform so well “considering” their disability. Channel 4 instead invited viewers to recognise Paralympians as elite athletes first and foremost.

This helped inform its strategy to “turn the camera on the viewer” for the first time. After three Paralympic Games, Jackson said the broadcaster felt it had a “right to do so“.

“What’s going on here? Why is it any different to acknowledge someone’s sporting ability just because they happen to be playing that sport in a different way? It’s still sport at the end of the day – so that was the shift,” she adds.10 years of ‘Superhumans’: Inside Channel 4’s transformational Paralympics campaign

The risk paid off with the vast majority of viewers (94%) feeling the tournament helped positively shift perceptions of disabled people, while 76% said the Games gave them a new perspective on the challenges faced by disabled people.

The move also reflects Channel 4’s broader approach to brand-led marketing. Since being appointed CMO, Jackson has been on a mission to align the broadcaster’s content strategy more closely with its marketing strategy, simplifying the process in order to react quickly.

“As a TV entertainment brand, a lot of the equity we have in Channel 4 is built by our content,” she explains. “Our product is entertainment, and the type of entertainment that we commission has a halo effect on our brand.”

As a marketer, it makes Jackson’s job “somewhat more straightforward” compared to, for example, a CPG brand after more brand investment from the wider business, she says.

“The more we invest in marketing activity around specific shows that do a good job for our brand, the more we can prove long-term that brand health metrics will continue to grow.”