Our latest marketing campaign features real Irwin Mitchell clients sharing their powerful personal stories about working with us. But it’s also special for another reason – we believe that it was made by the most inclusive production team ever.
Inclusivity for disabled people is hugely important to us at Irwin Mitchell and we wanted our new campaign to reflect that.
We support clients with both visible and hidden disabilities every day. Much of our work, from personal injury to asset management, is about helping people take opportunities and reach goals that may have otherwise been inaccessible.
But unfortunately we also know that these opportunities aren’t as common as they should be. There are talented people across the country who can’t share their gifts and realise their ambitions because workplaces aren’t inclusive enough.
We wanted to make a change with a marketing campaign that’s as inclusive as possible both on screen and behind the scenes.
Building Our Team
The creative industries should thrive on diversity. To make a campaign like ours across TV, radio, and digital, you need such a wide range of skills, abilities and outlooks. Photographers, videographers, make-up artists, musicians, producers, editors, the list goes on.
Yet disabled people hold only 9% of senior creative roles.
We knew we could do better than that and, working with marketing agency Merkle B2B, set about recruiting a more inclusive production team.
We spoke to the British Film Institute’s (BFI) disability screen advisory group and the people behind Channel 4’s multi-award-winning Paralympic films. We also researched groups and agencies representing disabled creatives.
Our final team included disabled people in 60% of its senior roles – over six times the industry average.
We’re thrilled to have worked with such talented people who often don’t get the opportunities they deserve. And we hope it sparks a conversation in the industry, inspiring others to do the same.
Meet Our Creatives
This campaign was truly a team effort and we’re proud of everyone who worked together to make it happen. We sat down with people in a variety of roles to learn more about their experiences as a disabled creative.
Ian Treherne - The Blind Photographer
Ian is a professional photographer who is profoundly deaf and 95% blind - read Ian's story
Owen Tooth - The Disabled Filmmaker
Owen is a filmmaker who's struggled to find work after a climbing accident has meant he has to use a wheelchair - read Owen's story
Bryanna Angel Ryder - The Media Makeup Artist
Bryanna is a professional media makeup artist who has severe lupus and is partially deaf - read Bryanna's story
Amy - The Film Editor with Complex PTSD
Amy spent two decades in the film industry around the world before finding her first inclusive production - read Amy's story
Once you've read their stories, check out the Human Touch campaign itself, with videos and photos produced by our amazing inclusive production team.
Disability Confident
The way we’ve approached this campaign mirrors Irwin Mitchell’s wider commitment to becoming a leading responsible business.
In 2019, we achieved the government’s Disability Confident Level 1 accreditation after pledging to recruit, retain and develop colleagues with disabilities. Now we’re taking the next step and pledging to achieve Level 2 by May 2022 and Level 3 by May 2023.
Our Responsible Business strategy focuses on two goals – enabling everyone to thrive and ensuring that everything we do positively impacts our future. We’re known for our human touch when working with clients and we’re extending that to everything we do.
That means environmental sustainability, community engagement, and diversity across age, disability, gender, race, faith, social mobility and sexual orientation.
Read our Disability Confident statement
