The process of co-constructing the personal brand of Paralympic athletes with their stakeholders in France and Canada[Le processus de co-construction de la marque personnelle des athlètes paralympiques avec ses parties prenantes en France et au Canada]

The Paralympic Games, as we all know them today, offer a unique opportunity for athletes with a physical or visual disability to demonstrate their sporting prowess to millions of spectators and even more to television viewers. Numerous studies have testified to the exponential growth of this event, making the Paralympic Games the world's leading sporting event for the social inclusion of people with disabilities. From 400 athletes at the Rome Games in 1960, to 4,400 at the latest Summer Games in Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024, the IPC, the Paralympic Games, and the athletes themselves, now operate in a highly competitive global market. Paralympic sport is now characterized not only as a highly competitive sporting field, but more broadly as a growing commercial platform. Authors such as Schantz and Gilbert (2012), realized that the power of sport was not enough to promote Paralympic athletes. The London Games marked a turning point in the strategy for promoting Paralympic sport by introducing the concept of marketing Paralympic athletes through the development of their personal brand. By definition, personal branding refers to "the creation and management of personal brands by individuals who apply marketing principles to themselves for promotional purposes" (Pagis & Ailon, 2017, p.247). Today, more athletes are recognizing the importance of developing a personal brand to improve their access to sponsorship opportunities, despite a lack of self-promotion training and skills (Hu et al., 2023). The exploration of branding strategies for "non-traditional" athlete categories has been a fruitful area of research in recent years, prompting us to extend this topic to Paralympic sport. This research deals not only with the study of the personal brand of Paralympic athletes in France and Canada, but also with the involvement of different stakeholders in this brand-building process. It introduces the concept of co-branding, defined as "a process of intentional interaction between or among two or more (actors) that influences a brand" (Sarasvuo et al., 2022, p.557). So, can we speak of a process of co-creation of a Paralympic athlete's personal brand with its stakeholders? Using an idealistic ontology, this study is based on a qualitative methodology involving 60 semi-structured interviews conducted in France and Canada. Consisting of a thematic content analysis, supported by an analysis of the discourses of para-athletes, sponsors, the media and institutions, this research aims to identify and take stock of the brand-building strategies of a paralympic athlete, within a different political, economic, social and cultural context. Looking at how Paralympic athletes perceive the development of their own brand, preliminary results show that performance is not the only attribute in building a strong brand. Other attributes (age, discipline, personality, etc.) also need to be taken into account. In addition, inequalities have been identified between para-athletes in terms of financial resources, visibility and sponsor attraction, which can facilitate their brand-building process. In France and Canada, their interest in brand-building strategies also differs. Limited perception of their means in terms of time and available management and marketing skills are the main sources identified. At the same time, stakeholder involvement, analyzed through the work of Dumont and Ots (2020), highlights the transfer of resources having a direct impact on the construction of the personal brand of Paralympic athletes. As primary or secondary stakeholders, the study will examine their level of investment in the development of the latter's brand image In the light of the players interviewed, marketing and promotional strategies for para-athletes were more quickly integrated into the governance of Paralympic sport in Canada. In France, the announcement of the Paris 2024 Games was quickly seized upon by the Organizing Committee and its stakeholders as a major new opportunity to highlight para-athletes. Applied to the literature on sport management, the study of the representation of para-athletes in sports marketing and their commercialization raises important social and commercial considerations. This research will help to develop the concept of co-branding in Paralympic sport, and will contribute to all those involved in the development of the Paralympic brand and its athletes.