HOW TO NOW
PRIDE EDITION a practical handbook for agencies and brands to celebrate PRIDE all year long.
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PRIDE IS NOT NECESSARY. 70%
of Italian LGBTQI+ students undergoes bullying at school*
68%
of Italians agree that LGBTQI+ people should have the same rights as heterosexual people**
1+
gay teen endure episodes of domestic violence every day*
WHY PRIDE IN 2020? REALLY? 50+ years after the Stonewall Riots defined the uprising of the LGBTQI+ community, its members are still being targeted by persecutory acts ranging from discriminatory legislation to hate speech and, in the worst case, violence and murders. These happen everyday, everywhere in our lives, in our schools, in our offices, on the media.
LGBTQI+ rights have been generally improving in the last decades, but in 2020 Pride is still very necessary.
ADS CAN DO.
If you need great platforms for great messages, look no further. In the social media era, brands and creativity still have the utmost influence on mass audiences. And today more than ever brands and agencies must take responsibility and fully commit to properly support the LGBTQI+ community, during Pride Month and beyond.
* SOURCE: "La Mappa dell'Intolleranza", VOX Diritti (2019) ** SOURCE: "Discrimination in the European Union", Fieldwork (2019)
WHY SHOULD BRANDS “PRIDE”?
CONSUMERS EXPECT BRANDS TO ACT
Today, we live in Brand Democracy: people expect brands to be powerful forces for change in society, far more than they trust governments to do so; the wallet is the vote and belief-driven consumers will either love or boycott a brand for its factual stand on societal issues.
of customers are belief-driven buyers*
NO STAND IS A STAND!
So, yes, supporting LGBTQI+ is the right thing for the bottom line as well. Between brands and customers, agencies play a key role: as advocates of the power of communication, they must lead brands to live up to the challenge (while facing it themselves as employer brands).
“Pride “feels” bigger year-on-year
and that is because more and more businesses are adopting rainbows without doing their homework.” Asad Dhunna, "A new era for Pride and LGBT+ marketing" on warc.com (2019)
Putting the rainbow flag on a logo is not enough anymore (if ever was): any bandwagoning on Pride (i.e. benefiting without giving money to the cause or tolerating inequality in own offices/supply chain) will backfire and be marked as rainbow-washing by the community. Brands and agencies that engage in Pride without carrying the receipts of their involvement will fail. Brands and agencies that commit to a proper alliance with LGBTQI+ will thrive.
* SOURCE: Edelman Trust Report, (2020)
The Big Now/mcgarrybowen is a proud member of Dentsu, a global, inclusive network that has respect for human rights at the core of the Company’s existence and aims to help realizing a sustainable and rich communication society. As such, we recognize the substantial impact advertising has on every social issue and we are utterly committed to help brands find their unique way to support the LGBTQI+ community in their everyday business. We strongly believe that our strategic methodology is fully equipped for leading brands to develop their own
“unfair advantage to PRIDE ” That is the unique, unmatchable truth about the brand/product role in helping LGBTQI+, the true Pole Star guiding the brand purpose towards a real, resonating support of the cause.
HOW TO FIND IT IN THE
NOW?
We believe it takes just three, simple yet outstanding trails of exploration to discover your own path to proper PRIDE.
true
COMMIT TO REPRESENT
bold
Be true to the community to develop compelling stories and campaigns. Don't spread generic, stereotyped narrative of pride support. Prefer insightful, authentic representations of reality, especially if you let LGBTQI+ people use their voice instead of preaching from the privileged side.
SAY IT LOUD, SAY IT PROUD Address bold issues with bold ideas. Build messages and creative execution that are as strong as the conversation they intend to spark, either in terms of magnitude, topic, tone of voice, engagement of the community.
next
PUSH THE CONVERSATION FORWARD Drop consumed, generic statements and take a longterm commitment to advance conversation and representation of the community. Meet present challenges with a future-proof support to help LGBTQI+ to succeed and, ultimately, society to progress.
pride.
IT’S JUST ABOUT
Ok, so now we have the direction, the “how”: brands and agencies must act TRUE, BOLD & NEXT. But what is the “what”? What can they actually do to help LGBTQI+ community continue to affirm itself? We have chosen
5
fundamental keywords
to identify as many leverages a brand should consider pivoting a virtuous Pride message around. Although not comprehensive of all the profound intersections, burdens and implications it should consider, we believe these dimensions are the key essential values for brands and agencies to be LGBTQI+ allies in 2020.
In the end, it's just about
P R I D E
P PRIDE
power
“ I’m not missing a minute of this: it’s the revolution! ” Sylvia Rivera LGBTQI+ icon & Stonewall Riots fire-starter
Empowering is probably the paramount mission a brand can undertake to support LGBTQI+. It is embedded in the very essence of Pride, a movement sparked by street riots against systemic discrimination. Today, empowering the LGBTQI+ community is not just about pursuing new rights and defending the old ones. Above all empowering is about inspiring people, giving them messages of strength, dignity and self-definition, liberating space for them to feel entitled of doing everything they want and being whatever they feel too.
HOW?
Be the microphone, but let LGBTQI+ speak for themselves.
QWEENS' SPEECH
DAZED (2019)
VIVA GLAM MACTIVISTS MAC COSMETICS (2019)
Offset privilege with full dignity messages, inspiring the unrepresented and celebrating cultural pillars that led the LGBTQI+ community until today.
STONEWALL FOREVER GOOGLE (2019)
BE TRUE
LEIOMY MALDONADO x NIKE NYC (2017)
Put your money where your mouth is: give material, economic help to activists and boost opportunities to the underprivileged parts of the LGBTQI+ community.
WE BELONG TO SOMETHING BEAUTIFUL SEPHORA (2019)
#PROUDOFMYHISTORY PABLLO VITTAR x CERVEJARIA AMBEV (2019)
R PRIDE
realness
“If I didn't define myself for myself, I would be crunched into other people's fantasies for me and eaten alive� Audre Lorde poet & writer
After decades of underrepresentation (or nonrepresentation at all), LGBTQI+ community now needs the most authentic, lifelike narrative advertising can create. For brands and agencies, that calls for a lot of listening in the first place: it's crucial to finally embody LGBTQI+ people's views and experiences into insightful, relatable creative ideas.Then, you tell real-world stories with depth, respect and inclusive editing.
HOW?
Go for casual, unsolicited representations: no reason to do it is a good reason to do it.
BE TRUE TO YOUR PLEASURE
DINNER'S READY
BARILLA (2019)
MAGNUM (2015)
*
Barilla has been called out by the LGBTQI+ community for a campaign perceived as an unauthentic, unrepresentative, "too little too late" response to year-long brand boycott by the community after Guido Barilla's stand for "traditional family only" in 2013.
Educate audiences to accept being LGBTQI+ is not an exception to any kind of normal and start leveling the field of assumption to equality.
THE PRIDE PROJECT @murielxo
Use brand/product to enable LGBTQI+ stories, not the other way around.
30 YEARS IN THE MAKING RENAULT UK (2019)
PRIDE
I
identity
“For so long I've obeyed that feminine decree, but when will I turn and cut the world?” ANOHNI transgender musician & songwriter
Knowing the answers to fundamental questions like “what am I? who am I? why am I this way?” is at the very core of everyone’s life. But systemic underrepresentation has long been an obstacle for LGBTQI+ members to trace their own identity as well. In 2020, brands and agencies must continue to set self-definition free from any label and encourage personal paths to identity with new, real, compelling stories.
HOW?
Explore previously uncharted territories in category/product insights to document outstanding and relatable stories of identity. .
FIRST SHAVE GILLETTE (2019)
DRÄG
IKEA CANADA (2018)
Commit to the redefinition of labels, especially those with negative implications, and promote the individual celebration of identity and love.
ESSA COCA É FANTA COCA-COLA BRAZIL (2018)
MY FIRST WOMEN'S DAY L'OREAL BRAZIL (2016)
FATELO A CASA VOSTRA IKEA ITALY (2019)
D PRIDE
dare
“I will never, ever ask any of you for respect: I will demand it. You will not tell me that you accept me: that is not your power. I take that from you.� Dominique Jackson
actress, author, model & trans-rights activist
They say desperate times call for desperate measures. We say huge challenges call for huge actions. And defeating century-long discriminations is definitely one.
For agencies and brands, daring means being capable and prepared to establish potent messages and outstanding, even upsetting, executions, to tear down systemic prejudice and attitudes regarding LGBTQI+ issues.
HOW?
Shake the habituals with deep, painfully necessary storytelling, but remember to keep the focus on the message, not on the provocation itself. .
LOVE YOU, MY GIRL INTER-LGBT (2019)
THE OBSTACLE COURSE INTER-LGBT (2016)
FRANCESCA DIESEL (2020)
*
Widely appreciated for its powerful storytelling and good intentions, it has been raising eyebrows among LGBTQI+ for narrowing the life of a transgender to their transition, viewed as a way to "get something", and seeking "the shocking finale" just for the sake of it.
E PRIDE
empathy “I believe that telling our stories, first to ourselves and then to one another and the world, is a revolutionary act.� Janet Mock
writer & trans-rights activist
Probably one of the main barriers in advertising is the lack of empathy non-LGBTQI+ people show towards LGBTQI+ struggles and challenges. The unfamiliarity with those matters drives this issue, thus it is of the utmost importance that brands really connect people living in diverse realities to eventually establish understanding and affinity.
HOW?
Tap essential, human emotions with personal, intimate stories that mirror familiar feelings in unfamiliar situations. .
GENERATIONS OF CARE VICKS INDIA (2017)
Narrate LGBTQI+ daily struggles/victories with in-their-shoes point of views to turn unrelatable challenges to understandable matters.
HAIR TALK SUNSILK (2018)
EVERY NAME'S A STORY STARBUCK'S UK (2019)
PRID
be the you wan
DE
Last but not least, us. For sure, no revolution has ever been ignited by an ad, but by the people creating it and the ones watching it. Change isn’t in the air: it’s inside of us and its winds are already howling. It’s up to us to choose whether to be the wall that tries to break them, to no avail, or to embrace its grand flow of power, realness, identity, dare and empathy. Be part of the change, or expect to be swept away by it: happy Pride!
nt to see in the world.
HOW TO NOW
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