2016 Winners & Shortlists

Brief Explanation

Every child dreams about being a superhero but for children with disabilities just being normal is the struggle. Their perseverance and desire to overcome challenges makes them more than just special...it makes them super! Using this insight and wanting to portray special needs children as real life superheroes, we created 'Not just Special, But Super' 20 kids from the Al Noor Training Center were asked to describe their favorite superhero. The description from the kids were sketched in real time and then were digitally converted and the face scans ‘meshed’ on to the bodies using special software, painstakingly fine-tuned for posing, and eventually 3D printed to life in the form of custom-made 15 centimeter superhero figurines complete with each child’s actual face and superhero body as described by them - a physical, lifelong reminder of what makes them super!

Creative Execution

In fun, immersive sessions, we asked twenty young special needs children to describe their favorite superhero and what would they be like if they had superpowers. A black and blue cloaked Batwoman, Thor wearing cricket pads, and a Tennis racquet wielding Super-girl was what they described, all of which were sketched in real time, followed by a 3D face scan of each child to capture their facial features. The sketches were then digitally converted, and 3D printed to life in the form of custom-made superhero figurines with each child’s face and superhero body as described by them.

Results

The Initiative proved to the world that every child holds unlimited potential The Campaign delivered earned media value of over 1.2M$ and over 2Million views on YouTube and Facebook The initiative became a talking point, thanks to the coverage from leading local media stations and a special tweet by Bollywood’s leading Star Hrithik Roshan, that reached out to over 13M followers. Dubai is now on its way to be a disabled-friendly city by 2020 and the word ‘Special’ has now been dropped by the school But above all, the world now sees these children for who they really are. Super!