How Brands Can Support Everlasting Pride

Whether you celebrate in June, July or in other months based on where you are in the world, this year’s Pride comes at an interesting time: its 50th anniversary intersects with shelter-in-place orders and protests around the world, particularly in the United States where the Pride marches began. These events prompt a more reflective look at Pride and what it means to members of the LGBTQ+ community—and to the contributions that brands make to the movement.

For example, how long should you keep your rainbow-infused logo? How does your commitment to LGBTQ+ equality translate to more meaningful action than a visual cue or a limited-release product? Consumers support brands that truly show up and act in support of social movements and societal needs, recognizing those causes are sincere drivers of the brand—and Pride is no different. Highlighting recent work from Netflix and Circus Marketing, which joined MediaMonks earlier this year, we’re taking a look at how brands can drive real support during Pride.

“We wanted to stand up to say something we truly believe: this is not just a day, Pride is a lifetime,” says Pablo Miranda, Sr. Creative at Circus. “Our goal for Pride Day was to celebrate and highlight stories that prove Pride is bigger than 24 hours. Instead of just talking about the LGTBQ+ Netflix shows, our efforts were focused on spotlighting the real people out there who inspire them.”

LGBTQ+ Support Must Extend Beyond a Month

True allyship requires passionate advocacy for a given cause or community internally—not just in your messaging. Brands exhibit this through internal employee resource groups, committees led by those who identify within the community or through external partnerships.

In partnering with GLADD, Netflix found how entertainment uniquely serves as a vehicle for building empathy and understanding toward the LGBTQ+ community—which meant the platform has a significant responsibility to portray diverse stories and highlight marginalized voices. This insight highlights Netflix’s long-term commitment and year-round support to depicting authentic LGBTQ+ stories. For example, La Casa de las Flores is one of the platform’s most popular international series—particularly in Latin America, where it’s been celebrated for its open and positive portrayal of LGBTQ+ characters (and where Circus produced a live, digital extravaganza celebrating the series’ end).

Through social listening, Circus also found that brands generally focus LGBTQ+ efforts in June only, often with messaging that consumers find passive or superficial. In our work with Netflix, the focus wasn’t to deliver just a message for Pride, but rather signal the brand’s commitment toward supporting diversity throughout the year through visibility and representation.

And this work was deeply personal for some of those involved in Circus’ creative team, too. “I came out of the closet after a deep process of self-acceptance, and I know representation makes a huge impact in the way you can embrace your reality and share who you are with others,” says Isabella Soto, Project Manager. “Being part of this project let me work for my community and tell their stories.”

Support LGBTQ+ Communities at Home with Virtualization

Pride is characterized by marches and parades that hearken back to its protest origins. This makes Pride celebrations especially challenging this year, when many must stay at home and keep physically apart due to the COVID-19 pandemic. And stay-at-home orders especially impact those who feel they can’t be themselves at home, highlighting the need for spaces and events where the LGBTQ+ community can thrive and be more open.

This made it important to offer a virtual safe space where LGBTQ+ viewers could be themselves and surround themselves with their community. Absent of a physical Pride event, we helped Netflix–who was listed in Newsweek as one of 50 US businesses that stood out during the pandemic–virtualize the festivities.

“As a part of the LGBTQ+ community, Pride happening at home meant a number of things,” says Naville Obeso, Creative Content Creator at Circus Marketing “But the most important was the fact that a range of young and adult LGBTQ+ members of the community were going to be uncomfortable, unsafe or sad to be at home ‘back in the closet.’ We knew that we had to deliver something warm at heart to those people. We wanted to build a bridge of empathy, tell them stories that could let them know that this too shall pass and that it gets better.”

We developed video content that invites the LGBTQ+ community to not only watch and relate to character portrayals, but also become active participants in sharing their own personal stories. The first of these is a hero video that remixes previous Pride march footage with scenes from Netflix shows—and from viewers, highlighting messages and tender moments of real lives in a stylized picture-in-picture look.

But the centerpiece of the festivities was “Stories that Unite Us,” a live show kicking off Pride Day. Inspired by quotes from LGBTQ+ Netflix characters, the show prompted real people to share their own stories—including a real, live marriage proposal from the show’s host to his partner.

“During the show, we could read in comments that some were watching it secretly, because at home it is not possible for them to consume LGBTQ+ content with their family,” says Yaneth Velázquez, Global Head of Client at Circus Marketing. “We hope that bringing visibility to stories of the community (real and fictional) can eventually help to open homes and hearts.”

Others on the team agree. “For me, the work represents the power we have to educate thousands of people like my family, people that often don’t have the opportunity to see other realities,” says Sebastián Urrutia, Sr. Creative at Circus. These projects show different ways that a brand can show up and provide support—whether supporting LGBTQ+ people at a time when lack of visibility and a safe space stifles the freedom to connect with others and be yourself, or whether driving change and commitment internally to support the LGBTQ+ and other diverse communities into the long term. These steps go well beyond changing a logo or packaging, and consumers appreciate brands that feel such a responsibility to their audiences.