Pedigree "pUp Syndrome" (2016) 2:00 (Russia)

In Russia, people with Down Syndrome are rejected. People believe they are unable to work, so in the entire country only four people with Down Syndrome are employed. Pedigree wanted to change that and change perceptions of people with Down Syndrome. So they trained a bunch of people to train dogs. Because unlike humans, dogs don't have the same sort of prejudice.

During the project ‘pUp syndrome’ 5 participants were visiting the Dog Training Centre and the hotel for dogs – a place where animals are in need of special attention and care because they are away from their owners. Young people learned how to work, to be independent and responsible caring for the animals. Dogs helped them to become more self-reliant and executive. It became the First Professional Adaptation Programme for people with Down syndrome in Russia.

Mars, Pedigree's parent company, is taking it one step further. They have committed to hiring five people with down syndrome to work in a new dog center in the Ulyanovsk region, of Russia, which will open in 2017.

Very moving piece.

Mars Russia
Portfolio Director, Dog Care MARS Petcare Russia – Sergey Kesoyan
Senior Brand Manager Pedigree, Marketing MARS Petcare – Maria Suchkova

The charitable fund “DownsideUp”
Development Director – Irina Menshenina
Project Manager – Yulia Goncharova

BBDO Moscow
Managing Director – Natalia Tsyganova
Creative Director – Alexey Fedorov
Creative Group Head – Ekaterina Savrasova
Senior Copywriter – Natalia Sytnik
Digital Creative Group Head – Victor Gribanov
Senior Digital Producer – Yuriy Marin
TV Production Director – Boris Anisonyan
Senior Producer – Yana Ageeva
Junior Producer – Anna Chernaya
Music Producer – Dmitriy Rubezhov
Director TV Production Studio – Kirill Kulygin
Senior TV studio manager – Andrey Belov
Group Account Director – Elena Vorobyova
Account Director – Natalya Dzhafarova
Account Supervisor – Anastasia Babuchenko

Creative production company – Bureau Working Title
Director – Taisia Reshetnikova
DOP – Alexandra Ivanova
Executive producer – Elena Vlasova
Line producer – Tatyana Finaeva
Production designer – Ruslana Osmanova
Producer assistant – Ksenia Tsvetkova
Editor – Kirill Khandurin
Music composer – Oleg Karpachev

PR Agency Mint (BBDO Group)
Managing Director – Viacheslav Tikhomirov
Client Services Director – Anastasiya Pogorelova
Senior Project Manager – Kseniya Kuznetsova
Project Manager – Maria Kirienko