Stonewall issues rallying cry to ‘Come Out for LGBT’ with first new campaign in a decade
LGBTQ+ charity Stonewall has launched its first new brand campaign in 10 years, following up the success of ‘Some people are gay. Get over it’ with a call for supporters to mobilise and ‘Come Out for LGBT’.
Stonewall targets supporters of the LGBT community in its latest campaign
At the heart of the three-year campaign is the aim of re-energising the British public to show demonstrative support of the LGBTQ+ community. Recent research from Stonewall found that UK hate crime against this community has risen significantly in the last five years, in spite of today’s surface-level atmosphere of tolerance following the legalisation of gay marriage.
'Come Out for LGBT' kicks off with a flagship ad featuring an array of real people and actors, all of whom personally support the Stonewall cause. Like the wider campaign, the spot was devised by Mr President, which has worked with the charity on this iteration for over a year.
“The vision for the spot was really simple,” said Laura Jordan Bambach, the agency’s chief creative officer and partner. “It’s showing people in everyday situations showing their visible support – from the small, like supporting someone on social, to the big, like going to join a protest.
“It was also really about landing that line ‘Come Out for LGBT’ as a mantra – an outward-facing slogan that will propel people off their butts and into action.”
For Jordan Bambach, one of the key shots of the ad was a gay couple walking into a country pub holding hands.
“What we wanted to show with the film is there are issues in all sorts of communities,” she said. “That rural context is a really important one for allies to come out and give support in. We wanted the film to make people really feel their allyship and feel very strongly that they’re on the side of this couple in the pub.”
The positive actions carried out by the film’s cast are the kind that Stonewall wants its supporters to replicate more frequently, in a world where, it states, 'the fight for equality is far from over’.
The charity hopes the brand platform will mobilise the LGBT supporters who have been unsure how to demonstrate this patronage to ‘get off the sidelines’ when it comes to the treatment of the community. As such, the campaign will reach as much of the UK population as possible through numerous channels, including cinema, out of home, digital, video on demand, print and social.
The latter’s strategy will focus on a high-profile group of Stonewall friends, including TV presenter Sue Perkins, vocalist Ghostpoet and actor Andrew Scott. The celebrity supporters will take to social to showcase Stonewall’s new range of merchandise, which includes T-shirts, tote bags, and mugs are now available for purchase on Stonewall’s website.
For print and OOH, the campaign’s posters feature a diverse mix of LGBT people and their supporters (including the Scissor Sisters’ Ana Matronic), accompanied by variations on 'Come Out for LGBT' such as ‘Come Out Singing’, ‘Come Out Sharing’ and ‘Come Out Playing’.
“While we have come a long way in the past 25 years, it is clear there is still a huge amount of work we need to do before all LGBT people can feel safe, included and free to be themselves in Britain today,” said Ruth Hunt, chief executive at Stonewall. “At Stonewall, we want everyone across Britain who cares about equality to join our campaign and pledge to come out for LGBT people everywhere, as visible allies.
“Together we can create a world where LGBT people are accepted without exception.”
For Jordan Bambach, the campaign is a bold one – even for a brand such as Stonewall, which, throughout the ‘Some people are gay. Get over it’ roll-out proved it has no problem ruffling a few feathers.
“It’s using the idea of coming out, which in itself within the community can be a provocative thing,” she explained. “We’ve been very careful to run it through multitudes of testing and all the advisory groups that are within and connected to Stonewall, because [coming out] is probably the biggest thing an LGBT person can do.
“We’re making sure that although it’s provocative, it’s clear what we’re asking people to do.”
She added: “I think it will cause a lot of conversation and a lot of debate, which is great for Stonewall.”
Mr President worked with Rocket Media to distribute the creative. Additional media support has been provided by the likes of DCM, UKTV, Unilad, Vice, 8 Outdoor and Blizzard Entertainment’s Overwatch.
