Ad campaign seeks to boost sales for Paris Paralympics

Organisers of the Paris Paralympics this week launched an advertising campaign to boost sales for the Games given that only 300,000 tickets have been purchased so far by members of the public.

One hundred days before the start of the event, around 900,000 tickets – a third of the total – have been sold.

Figures from the organising committee (Cojo) show that some 600,000 of those were purchased by French public sector organisations and the Olympic and Paralympic committees.

The sales data has barely changed since the beginning of the year, even though seats are priced at as little as €15 – including at the most prestigious locations around the French capital.

"We want to say to everyone, French people first: it's time to mobilise around the Paralympics," said Julie Mathikine, brand director for Paris 2024.

"It's a shock advertising campaign, to create a reaction, to make people understand and realise."

Personalising the Games

The billboard and online campaign will feature several leading French Paralympic athletes with the tag line: "We aren't missing anything, only you."

Michael Aloisio, Paris 2024 deputy director general, acknowledged "that French people don't know our Paralympic athletes. We need to speak about them, to personalise the event".

But he and others stressed that Paris 2024 was no different from the London Games in 2012, where around 40 percent of Paralympic ticket sales occurred after the end of the Olympics.

The Paris Paralympics will run from 28 August to 8 September.

(with AFP)

Read more on RFI English

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