2017 Silver Best use of Experiential

Proximity London

Client:Pride in London

Love Lived Here

Campaign overview

Pride puts the LGBT+ community front and centre, a celebration of diversity, and acceptance.

And Pride in London wanted to champion the people who blazed a path and who inspire others to follow in their steps.

Strategy

With 2017 marking the 50th anniversary of partial decriminalisation of homosexuality in the UK, Pride grasped the chance to reflect on the achievements of previous generations – and to remind people the struggle for acceptance isn’t over.

Pride predominately focuses on the here and the now, so needed to play a new role in educating people on how yesterday’s LGBT+ community achieved amazing feats in the face of institutional and societal opposition and censure.

To address this, famous LGBT+ Londoners were chosen, and their histories championed in engaging ways to help drive a debate about the importance of acceptance, and to highlight the ongoing issues of inequality the community still faces.

Creativity

London's blue heritage plaques are a powerful example of 'Out Of Home. They connect history to the real world and create emotional connections to the past.

This resonance was central to the campaign's creative thinking. Using the iconic rainbow flag, blue plaques with an LGBT+ heritage got a makeover for the two weeks of Pride, creating striking visual symbol and introducing people to the influential community members who had lived where the plaques cropped up.

The plaques were promoted by a PR and outreach campaign, supported by relevant influencers and journalists who were able to visit the plaques. People were encouraged to share their first-hand experiences with their followers.

The campaign headed to the annual Pride parade using a mobile digital billboard. While a captive audience lined the streets celebrated this year's 'Love Happens Here' theme, footage of the plaques played as a reminder that Pride is only possible because Love Lived Here.

Results

National coverage from Channel 4 News and the Independent pushed the campaign beyond Pride in London's regular audience.

By the end of the Pride, celebrations the campaign reached 4,027,000 people with a total budget of less than £4K - and no media spend.

Online, the campaign started 3,344 conversations, and beyond measureable engagements an estimated one million people watched the campaign film at Pride - and countless Londoners passed the blue plaques throughout the two week campaign.

However, the most important element of the campaign's results is the emotional impact.

Pride in London Director, Siobhan Linnard felt that the campaign "gives people that chance to think ‘there's someone like me, I can be who I need to be and achieve great things’."

Team

Louise Wright (Copywriter) Proximity London - Anthony McGinty (Art Director) Proximity London - John Treacy (Executive Creative Director) Proximity London - Elspeth Hoskin (Designer) Proximity London - Gabriele Mockute (Designer) Proximity London - Sabrina Gayle (Designer) Proximity London - Gabor Eszenyi (Designer) Proximity London - Paul Dazeley (Planner) Proximity London - Kelly Taylor (PR & Marketing Manager) Proximity London - Zoe Jones (Project Manager) Proximity London