Title | GLOBAL PRIDE CROSSING |
Brand | INTERPRIDE, EUROPEAN PRIDE ORGANISERS ASSOCIATION (EPOA) |
Product / Service | GLOBAL PRIDE 2020 |
Category | E10. Emerging Platforms |
Entrant | WE ARE SOCIAL Singapore, SINGAPORE |
Idea Creation | WE ARE SOCIAL Singapore, SINGAPORE |
Production | SWIPEBACK Montreuil, FRANCE |
Name | Company | Position |
---|---|---|
Lucile Araud | SwipeBack | Art Director |
Christina Chong | We Are Social | Managing Director |
Erasmus Ess William | We Are Social | Head of Production |
YouQuan Fu | We Are Social | Senior Media Artist |
Clio Goh | We Are Social | Producer |
Craig Howie | We Are Social | Executive Creative Director |
Werner Iucksch | We Are Social | Planning Director |
Ian Jahng | We Are Social | Creative Director |
Alessio Laudato | We Are Social | Senior Art Director |
Denicia Lew | We Are Social | Account Manager |
Cedric Lim | We Are Social | Senior Producer |
Jeremy Lim | We Are Social | Senior Copywriter |
Benjamin Oi | We Are Social | Associate Account Director |
Arnaud Robin | We Are Social | Innovation Director |
Nikhil Roy | SwipeBack | Creative Director |
Ika Shazanni | We Are Social | Traffic Executive |
Fabrice Starzinskas | SwipeBack | Producer |
Ernie Sulastri | We Are Social | Editor |
Benn Tan | We Are Social | Art Director |
Melantha Tan | We Are Social | Planner |
Vivian Tan | We Are Social | Traffic Manager |
Max Vedel | SwipeBack | Creative Director |
Boone Wong | We Are Social | Head of Copy |
Pride events are statements of equality, dignity and acceptance for the LGBTQI+ community. Every year, over 500 events are organised during Pride month (June) all around the world. However, in 2020, COVID crashed the party: IRL celebrations were cancelled, and millions of LGBTQI+ people lost their most cherished opportunity to come together and celebrate whoever they are and what they stand for. A year without Pride was inconceivable, so Pride organisations banded together to form Global Pride 2020: bringing the festivities online with a 24-hour stream of LGBTQI+ content. However, we quickly identified that the social aspect of in-person events would be missed and that we needed to find a supporting experience to achieve two key objectives: re-engage the community and generate earned media to further the LGBTQI+ movement, all with the challenge of $0 media spend.
We tapped into a medium where an existing subcommunity was congregating: ‘Gaymers’. This group of users had been fighting for more representation in the gaming landscape and were already utilising these platforms as safe spaces for interaction and self-expression; and as early as March 2020, their top subject was an emerging phenomenon: Animal Crossing New Horizons (ACNH), earning over 20,000 LGBTQI+ conversations. It was the perfect solution to our problem: turning a prominent IRL parade into a virtual celebration. Introducing Global Pride Crossing — a social activation free from the barriers of the outside world and a place where self-expression is integrated by design. We carved out space for gaymers to freely gather, be themselves and celebrate loud and proud. In summary: Global Pride Crossing was a place the queer community loved to visit, and the media loved to show to the world.
The activation was built around a Pride-themed in-game island, which brought signature Pride activities online: a rainbow brick road, a Queer Hall of Fame, a Pride-themed clothing collection, and so much more. Leading up to Global Pride’s 24-hour broadcast, we fervently shared our fun-filled Pride Island on Twitter, which already had a large and active community for all things ACNH. Gaymers quickly caught on and were motivated to organise their own Pride celebrations using our designs. We wanted more people to experience the joy and the community of Pride, which meant looking beyond players that already had access to ACNH. To target the “gaymer” community at large, we made an active effort for the campaign to be streamer-friendly as well. Our commitment to developing the platform by tapping into existing behaviours and full utility of its features, saw it bring LGBTQI+ and ACNH communities together with resounding approval.
Global Pride Crossing thrived with $0 media spend. Our campaign hashtag garnered over 25.2 million organic impressions within a fortnight, even Nike used our hashtag for their ACNH Pride apparel collection drop. ACNH islands exploded in a flurry of rainbows with users actively sharing and using our design codes, in turn, they were just as enthusiastic about sharing their own. Our Twitter channel was buzzing with over 93,000 engagements. The gaymer community tuned in to our influencers’ live streams, reaching over 1.07 million minutes watched across Twitch, Facebook and YouTube; that’s 24 months of non-stop Pride celebration packed in less than two weeks. The media fell in love with our idea and further spread our call. The campaign was featured in 89 publications, reaching an estimated 3.86 million readers. Global Pride Crossing kept the Pride flag flying high, making a positive social impact beyond the screens.