The film opens on Copacabana Beach, Rio. Passers-by are challenged to participate in a Mystery Volleyball game inside a dark tent. They can’t see their opponents or the volleyball court, except for glow-in-the-dark paint underlining their silhouettes and the net and lines. A series of games ensue, with the mysterious volleyball players winning all of them with impressive moves and technique… until they finally lose one.

That’s when the lights suddenly switch on and reveal that the two volleyball champions where actually two women over fifty years-old, much to their opponents’ shock. The film closes on the line: ‘You’re only as old as you move’ – a variation on Voltaren’s brand purpose, bringing to life The Joy of Movement.

Although this film has been shot in Brazil and will be relevant to the Brazilian market before the Olympics games, the first airing market will be Canada. However we kept in mind the different cultural and regulatory constraints to make sure that we can deploy it globally before Summer 2016.

Our challenge was to mask the identity of our heroines in an interesting and visually impactful way, so we could achieve a real visual shock when the viewer discovers their faces and thus their age.

The choice of a glow in the dark technique allowed us to succeed despite many technical challenges, for example the powerful night lights on Copacabana beach that competed with our UV lighting even when sheltered under a tent.

Ageism is very present in Western societies. There are damaging preconceptions about how seniors move, behave or even think. As soon as you’re over fifty, society thinks of you as ‘an old person’ rather than just ‘a person’, which can be damaging to seniors’ self esteem.

Our campaign challenges these prejudices and shows that whatever your age, and despite muscle and joint pain, you can still experience the joy of movement and ultimately that you’re only as old as you feel.

Voltaren is an enabler; it helps to fight body pain and ultimately to restore the joy of movement. We think that there are many misjudgments around people's ability to move. Many people over fifty years old are young in their mind and not so much in their body anymore, but the appetite for movement is still there! What we offer them is to match this state of mind with the physical side of things - demonstrating that even though some wrinkles have made their way to our forehead we are still capable to burst into a sprint or enjoy any simple movement they sometimes have struggle with. This campaign’s objective is to make people understand that our ability to move is a mental barrier that we impose ourselves; this is perfectly demonstrated in our film and our campaign line “you’re only as old as you move".