In case you saw that headline and assumed we were talking about those terrifying 7-year-old weightlifters. Please think again. This is about real strength and real courage. This week, WCRS are launching the World’s Strongest Boys, a new brand the agency has specifically created by for the Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy charity, Duchenne UK. Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) is a genetic muscle-wasting disease that almost exclusively affects males. There is currently no cure and in most cases boys do not live beyond their twenties. While the degenerative condition makes the boys physically weak, having to live with this reality makes them incredibly strong; in a sense they are the World’s Strongest Boys.
WCRS and Duchenne UK have drawn attention to these boys’ strong, defiant spirit by juxtaposing the world of physical strength and fitness with their remarkable inner strength. The brand’s launch campaign enlists a cast of famous sporting heroes and other performers to create short films showcasing jaw-dropping feats of physical strength which, shared via the sports stars’ social channels, then direct the public to a website where a 60-second film (above) reveals the true identity of the World’s Strongest Boys, shown through the eyes of 10-year old DMD sufferer Alex Hallam.
The film was directed by George Belfield of Somesuch. On the website, World’s Strongest Boys asks people to use their muscles to help boys losing theirs. They can do this by buying a range of fitness products (protein shakers and t-shirts) or by registering to take part in a series of ‘World’s Strongest Boys’ sporting events. All the proceeds will be used to fund vital research into a cure for DMD. The brand’s product and campaign photography, which features heroic imagery of boys living with Duchenne, was captured by the award-winning photographer, Kuba Wieczorek, who was behind Channel 4’s equally inspiring “Superhumans” campaign for the Paralympic Games in 2012.
