Saatchi & Saatchi and CoorDown Turn Up The Voices of People With Down Syndrome

Today, 21 March is World Down Syndrome Day and the new project launched by Saatchi & Saatchi and CoorDown 10 days ago entitled #DammiPiùVoce (Turn up my voice), has been a huge success with 40 celebrities answering the call and donating their voice.

As of this morning 40 celebrity videos have been donated. Amongst them Sharon Stone, Jose Mourinho, and numerous Italian Stars Including Chef Carlo Cracco, Singer Jovanotti, who also created a special song for Spartaco, Actress Asia Argento and Football players Francesco Totti and Antonio Cassano.

You can follow the campaign on twitter.com/coordown and facebook.com/coordown. #DammiPiùVoce is the official hashtag on Twitter.

“This year - says Sergio Silvestre, the National Coordinator of CoorDown - we have dedicated our energy to the main goal: defending and promoting the rights of people with Down Syndrome, who are too often overcome by prejudices and the lack of application of existing laws, especially those concerning inclusion in the job market. We are not asking for more rights for our guys, just the same opportunities as everyone else. We are proud to collaborate with Saatchi & Saatchi again on this occasion after the success of the last campaign which has succeeded in communicating, with courage and brilliant ideas, the need to turn up the voice of people with Down Syndrome. This is the most important theme of the World Day of Down Syndrome 2013.”

"We are very pleased to work again with CoorDown - said Giuseppe Caiazza, CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi in Italy and Head of Automotive Business for Saatchi & Saatchi EMEA. Following the success of last year's campaign, we decided to do something unique together, and just as we did last year, we feel enriched professionally, but also personally."

Agostino Toscana, Executive Creative Director of Saatchi & Saatchi Italy, said: "After having “ecologically recycled” the TV commercials and print ads last year, making it a major integration campaign, this year we decided to get the most out of another "old trick" of making advertising: the use of a celebrity. The fact that the entire campaign is developed on a digital platform, live and fully transparent, is another piece of this project that we are carrying on together with our CoorDown friends. In 2012 the companies donated their commercials for Integration Day, in 2013 celebrities donated their voice. Both times in a way never seen before."

After the results of the “Integration Day” campaign, which won 7 Gold Lions and one Bronze Lion at the 2012 Cannes International Festival of Creativity, Saatchi & Saatchi and CoorDown Onlus worked together again to safeguard the rights of people with Down syndrome.

In Italy, due to prejudice, the basic rights of people with Down syndrome are still too often denied. Rights like proper academic support, rehabilitation treatments, the opportunity to do beneficial work or even just the possibility to have fun like their peers.

With more funds available it would be possible to defend their rights through protective measures, projects that stimulate their engagement and autonomy, and through better information activities. That’s the reason behind the launch of the #DammiPiùVoce (Turn up my voice) campaign.
On www.coordown.it, 50 people with Down syndrome asked 50 celebrities for a particular donation. Not money: they asked for a video. A video in which those celebrities ask the public to support the rights of people with Down Syndrome through a donation, thus amplifying their voices. A video that, if shared by the celebrities on their social networks, would have more chance of being listened to.