ARD Paralympics 2026

2026ARDMotion Design / AI Art Direction / Broadcast Branding

The Paralympic campaign shares the Olympic pitch’s central idea: a sporting dream takes shape in clouds, connecting athletic ambition with the imagined landscapes of Milano Cortina. Continuing that world for ARD meant keeping the same sense of anticipation while making the athletes and their disciplines recognisable on their own terms. The visual language could carry across; the assumptions behind the generated figures had to be reconsidered.

“Dream big from every angle.

UnitedSenses, campaign statement and creative context — ARD Paralympics 2026.

Campaign stills

The shared cloud material connects the two campaigns. Sporting posture, equipment and movement provide the distinction: the athlete’s specific way of competing has to survive the abstraction.

Representation is part of the technical brief

In this production, the base image and video models did not reliably represent the body configurations and movement patterns required for Paralympic winter sport. A standing skier competing on one leg, for example, could be pulled back towards a familiar two-legged figure by the model’s learned defaults. The challenge extended beyond a single image: anatomy, balance and equipment also had to remain coherent as the athlete moved.

That made accurate sporting representation an additional training task. Custom LoRAs and further model training were developed for the required imagery and animation, with repeated comparison against the specific athlete configuration and sporting gesture. A visually attractive result was insufficient if it changed the athlete’s body or replaced the mechanics of the discipline with a more familiar movement.

One campaign world, specific athletic movement

The aim was to give Paralympic athletes the same expansive, aspirational treatment as the Olympic campaign while respecting what makes each performance specific. Clouds could transform the surroundings and the material of the figure; the athlete’s balance, body configuration and use of equipment remained the reference for whether the image worked.

Credits

Client

ARD

Motion Design · AI Art Direction · Broadcast Branding

Matthias Lein

Agency

UnitedSenses