PINK TRIANGLE ISSUE

TitlePINK TRIANGLE ISSUE
BrandVANGARDIST PROGRESSIVE MEN´S MAGAZINE
Product/ServiceACTIVISM
Category B01. Websites
Entrant SERVICEPLAN GERMANY Munich, GERMANY
Idea Creation SERVICEPLAN GERMANY Munich, GERMANY
Idea Creation 2 PLAN.NET Munich, GERMANY
Idea Creation 3 SERVICEPLAN FRANCE Paris, FRANCE
PR SERVICEPLAN GERMANY Munich, GERMANY
Production PLAN.NET Munich, GERMANY
Production 2 PPM FILMPRODUCTIONS Vienna, AUSTRIA
Production 3 HASTINGS MUSIC Hamburg, GERMANY
Additional Company MAUTHAUSEN MEMORIAL, GERMANY
Credits
Name Company Position
Alexander Schill SERVICEPLAN GROUP Global Chief Creative Officer
Christoph Everke SERVICEPLAN GERMANY Executive Creative Director
Alexander Nagel SERVICEPLAN GERMANY Executive Creative Director
Markus Maczey PLAN.NET GROUP Managing Director
Michael Reill PLAN.NET GERMANY Executive Creative Director
Jonas Heitzer PLAN.NET GROUP Creative Coder
Philipp von Mauch Freelance Coder
Marc Hermann Hofmann PLAN.NET GERMANY Senior Conceptor
Marlene Ulmer PLAN.NET GERMANY Account Manager
Maximilian Janda PLAN.NET GERMANY Motion Designer
Henrik Pfeiffer SERVICEPLAN GERMANY Creative Director
Rafael Angulo SERVICEPLAN GERMANY Art Director
Melissa Meyer SERVICEPLAN GERMANY Junior Art Director
Nedim Aktas SERVICEPLAN GERMANY Junior Copywriter
Hendrik Haupt SERVICEPLAN GERMANY Trainee Copywriter
Julia Meinetsberger SERVICEPLAN GERMANY Senior Account Manager
Melanie Gensert SERVICEPLAN GERMANY Junior Account Manager
Leo Tilemann SERVICEPLAN GERMANY Junior Account Manager
Eliette-Nabila Korte SERVICEPLAN GERMANY Junior Account Manager
Stefanie von Bary SERVICEPLAN GERMANY Trafficer
Sarah Fabry-Zappe SERVICEPLAN GERMANY Senior PR Consultant

Background

In the Nazi Era, not only Jews were taken to concentration camps. Gay people were also imprisoned and marked with a Pink Triangle. But while the Nazi Era ended, the homophobic violence did not: Today, gays are still persecuted in over 70 countries and even taken to concentration camps. That’s why, for the first time in history, we started an integrated campaign in a Nazi concentration camp. To make a change, we reclaimed the Pink Triangle and gave it a new shape and a new meaning: Turning it from a symbol of death into a window of hope.

Describe the strategy

In many countries, the freedom of LGBT people is taken for granted – but the reality is shocking: Not many people know about the inhumane atrocities and current homophobic fueled hate crimes around the world. To shift this perception and to start our campaign, we used a provocative strategy: We gave the unbelievable and horrifying topic a human testimony. We told the story of a real survivor of todays’ gay persecution who escaped torture in Jamaica – and even made him wore a Pink Triangle in a Nazi Concentration Camp. With this meaningful stroke we made the ongoing homophobic violence visible for everyone in the world. On International Day Against Homophobia on 17 May, we launched “Pink Triangle Issue”. The crucial symbol was revealed with a new shape at a press conference at the Mauthausen Memorial–reclaimed as a sign of hope and as a start of our immersive multi-channel campaign.

Describe the execution

To effectively make the campaign palpable, we created a unique visual petition: A WebGL-based website that enables people to become part of the campaign, encourage others to do the same and reach out to the UN to care for LGBT freedom. People from all over the world added their profile picture to our campaign by registering through Facebook Connect on pinktriangleissue.com. Our website used those pictures to create a floating grid of triangles. To tell that worldwide story of support as seamlessly as possible, we implied a digital scrollytelling format, showing that what used to be a death sentence finally became a sign of pride. Visitors can navigate the grid as new faces are rendered in real time. A search function allows them to explore the grid effectively and find supporters by first name. Additionally, participants can add the pink triangle to their Facebook profile to show their support.

List the results

Pink Triangle Issue sparked a global conversation about the freedom of LGBT people: Thousands and thousands of views, shares, engagements and PR generated a total of over 410 million impressions worldwide. Big brands like Starbucks, Facebook and the REWE Group, one of Europe’s biggest supermarket chains, supported the campaign. The campaign was not limited to the solidarity of the LGBT community, it activated an alliance of the broad society. With our visual online petition, we enabled people to not simply sign with their names, but to show support by lending their faces for the cause. And finally, the UN took a stand: The UN General Assembly resolution addressing violence that includes explicit reference to sexual orientation and gender identity. They urged States to “protect the life of all people” and called upon them to “investigate killings based on discriminatory grounds”.