Ahead of the Winter Paralympic Games at PyeongChang 2018, the Croatian Paralympic Committee (HPO) launched the campaign #NavijamZaNaše (I support ours, transl.), which aims to raise awareness of Croatian fans about the fact that their support represents that final percentile of motivation that can lead every athlete to victory. Unfortunately, this support for Croatian Paralympic athletes is lacking.
In cooperation with Bruketa&Žinić&Grey and VETTURELLI agencies, the campaign was launched to give Croatian supporters an additional motivation to support the Paralympians, following the examples of athletes of the KHL Medvescak, handball club PPD Zagreb and the biggest names of Croatian winter Olympic sports – Janica and Ivica Kostelić, who expressed their support through the campaign.
“We have been cooperating with Croatian Paralympians since 2011 and they always inspire us again and again, proving that both in sports and in life that which we do not have is what makes us stronger. Every campaign we work on is primarily aimed at changing people’s awareness of how Paralympians are top athletes as well, and the only true handicap can only exist in the heads. In the last two years, the focus of the campaign has been to increase the support that Paralympians definitely deserve,” said Nikola Žinić of the Bruketa&Žinić&Grey agency.
Playing matches and competitions in front of empty stands is even a penalty sometimes for clubs and athletes for unsportsmanlike behavior. And this is for a reason, because that’s the only real handicap in sport. In the first online video campaign about the great importance of fans in their success, we hear the experiences of hockey player of KHL Medvescak Ivan Jankovic, handball players of PPD Zagreb Zlatko Horvat, Domagoj Pavlović and Tin Kontrec, and Croatian Paralympians Eva Goluža and Dino Sokolović.
“If someone knows how hard it is to have no fans, then it’s certainly our Paralympians, because we have been facing this issue for years, although we are playing top sports. I hope this campaign will show that our fans have actually recognized the work, effort and results of our Paralympians and that they will be the wind in the sails of the Croatian national team in PyeongChang,” said HPO President Ratko Kovacic.
Campaign organizers invite fans to use the hashtag #NavijamZaNaše and thus show Paralympians that they are behind them even in the distant South Korea.
Check out the video of the campaign below:
