ADEPS - Without Volunteers

Tobias Deruwe

ADEPS - Without Volunteers

Project Title: "ADEPS - Sans Volontaires" (French Sports Association) Role: Director
Challenge: How do you make the invisible value of volunteers visibly urgent? The French sports association needed a hard-hitting campaign to address declining volunteer numbers — without resorting to clichéd guilt-tripping.
Creative Approach: I built a bleakly humorous world where children bear the brunt of adult apathy. In a volunteer-free sports hall, kids stare at deflated basketballs, wrestle unopened equipment boxes, and trudge through trash-strewn corridors—all filmed with deadpan absurdity. The message? “No volunteers = no childhood joy.” By casting kids as the helpless victims of systemic neglect, the film weaponizes innocence to make apathy feel urgent.
Project Details:
Client: ADEPS (French Sports Association)
Objective: Raise awareness about the critical need for volunteers in grassroots sports through a memorable, shareable campaign.
Tone: Dry, absurdist satire—think Yorgos Lanthimos meets Kafka at a soccer match.
Key Themes: Community impact, unseen labor, collective responsibility.
Result: A viral-ready spot that sparked national dialogue. Client testimonial: "A masterclass in making apathy feel alarming – without uttering a single plea."
Why It Works: This project exemplifies my knack for translating social issues into shareable narratives – leveraging absurdity to make abstract stakes tangible, while maintaining the emotional precision needed for impactful campaigns.
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Posted Apr 15, 2025

Created a campaign for ADEPS to highlight the need for volunteers in sports.

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