In 2022, one million French mentally disabled citizens are still largely ignored by society.

For the Anne de Gaulle Foundation, this was unacceptable.

We built a large-scale brand activation by renaming Charles de Gaulle Airport, the biggest in Europe.

We changed the façade of the terminal, replacing the name with: “Anne De Gaulle”, in gigantic letters. Luggage tags, carts, queue signage, boarding passes, every screen in every terminal – even road signs – featured the name “Anne de Gaulle.

With this simple change in name, we sparked a national conversation in the media, making mental disability impossible to ignore.

Charles and Yvonne De Gaulle created the Foundation Anne de Gaulle in 1945 in honor of their daughter Anne, born with Down syndrome. For 75 years, the foundation fights to make society inclusive for the mentally disabled. But still to this day, they are invisible, don’t have a worthwhile access to society and public transport. For the Anne de Gaulle Foundation, it was unacceptable.

The PR challenge was to assert Fondation Anne de Gaulle’s pioneering vision and leadership in this area, bolster awareness of its work and commitments, and at the same time build a transformative collective approach in honor of its partners which are also campaigning to change perceptions of disability and improve support for those concerned.

To create as much buzz as possible, we changed the name of the largest public infrastructure in France, an infrastructure with direct lineage to the foundation’s history: Charles de Gaulle Airport.

We changed the façade of the terminal: “Anne De Gaulle” was written up in gigantic letters. Luggage tags, carts, queue signage, boarding passes, every screen in every terminal – even road signs – featured the name Anne de Gaulle.

With a simple change in name, we sparked a national conversation in the media and made mental disability impossible to ignore.

12 million people in France are officially declared as disabled. However, this issue gets minimum media coverage. Governments make grand statements but take very little action. So, we decided to leverage the momentum around International Day of Persons with Disabilities and the opening of Terminal 1 to raise visibility. This was the first-ever name change for a major international airport to defend a great cause and support a foundation. We created media buzz by spotlighting the Anne De Gaulle Foundation and ADP Group

Step 1:A shortlist of journalists and key national, local and international media (print, radio and TV)

Step 2:A press release to the ten main journalists (under embargo), then to the entire list two days before

Step 3:Videos and photos of the airport with its new name from Make It Live

Step 4 :A teaser broadcast on France Info radio two days before

Launch was scheduled December 3, International Disabled Day, coinciding with France’s biggest nationwide fund-raising event (Telethon).

We partnered with hugely popular France Info radio to ensure rolling coverage and maximum reach. This include an exclusive announcement on December 1, radio spots promoting the Foundation, mentions during news programs on December 1 and 2, and a live broadcast from “Paris-Anne de Gaulle Airport”.

The initial announcement was followed by a press release to regional, daily, specialized and international media, coupled with:

Take-up of the FranceInfo.fr article by other online media and an Agence France Presse (AFP) dispatch.

Anne de Gaulle Foundation spokespersons deployed to maximize participation on TV and radio.

Video uploads for social media and TV on launch day, focusing on DuoDay+1.

Involvement of political and institutional figures, social entrepreneurs and artists known for their stance on disability rights to ensure engagement across social networks.

More than 200 articles were published in 13 different countries. A large number of political and institutional figures, social entrepreneurs and artists known for taking a stand on disability rights shared the operation on social media.

Our strategy and activation enabled the Foundation to reassert its refusal to accept things as they are. In addition, it endorsed the call from other charity organizations for a paradigm shift in the support available for people with disabilities. Groupe ADP, which operates Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport, used the operation to kick-start its transformation aimed at improving accessibility for people with disabilities ready in time for the Paris Olympic Games in 2024.