Title	I (DIS)OWN MY CHILD
Brand	‘DA SE ZNA’ LGBT+NGO
Product/Service	‘DA SE ZNA’ LGBT+NGO
Category	F03. Single Market Campaign
Entrant	McCANN BELGRADE, SERBIA
Idea Creation	McCANN BELGRADE, SERBIA
Media Placement	UM Belgrade, SERBIA
PR	McCANN BELGRADE, SERBIA
Production	McCANN BELGRADE, SERBIA

Name	Company	Position
Jana Savic Rastovac	McCann Beograd	Executive Creative Director
Jovana Miloševic	McCann Beograd	Senior Copywriter
Lidija Milovanovic	McCann Beograd	Associate Creative Director
Sandra Milojevic	McCann Beograd	Senior Graphic Designer
Andrea Mitic	McCann Beograd	Account Manager
Emina Azizi	McCann Beograd	Regional Account Director
Tamara Vukadin	McCann Beograd	Account Manager
Aleksandar Milojevic	McCann Beograd	Strategic Planner
Marija Vicic	McCann Beograd	Communication Director for Creative Excellence
Jelena Jazic	McCann Beograd	Managing Director
Luka Ličina	Drive Beograd	Digital Copywriter
Stefan Nikolic	Drive Beograd	Designer
Nikola Nikolic	McCann Beograd	Head Of Creative Services
Biljana Kolakovic	UM Beograd	Regional Managing Director
Ana Kovacevic	UM Beograd	Account Supervisor
Dubravka Perišic	McCann Beograd	Creative Traffic
Catalin Dobre	McCann Worldgroup Romania	Chief Creative Officer McCann Worldgroup Romania and Regional Creative Director McCann CEE

Why is this work relevant for PR?

‘I (Dis)Own my child’ campaign allowed public in conservative society (even in rural and sceptic parts of the country) to discover that, among their fellow citizens, there are those who break taboos when it comes to LGBT+ family acceptance. All major local and national newspapers published a series of classified ads, written by parents and families who supported their LGBT+ kids, while national and regional media as well as public figures helped spread the word about the campaign that turned the awful practice of ‘disowning’ kids in classified ads into a source of inspiration for acceptance.

Background

It is not easy to be LGBT+ in Serbia. Besides being discriminated and ashamed, LGBT+ people face rejection on almost every step: friends, employers, society. It is particularly hard in Serbia and small environments where cultural barriers are still present when it comes to LGBT+ acceptance, even inside of families. Tackle one of the toughest moments for LGBT+ population - coming out to parents, as they simply fear the rejection. Influence and sensitize the public towards understanding the position of LGBT people. Use parents as a specific group to voice out the issue of acceptance. Help people realize that family is the one place, LGBT+ people should get unconditional love and support from, once they come out.

Describe the creative idea (20% of vote)

As unbelievable as it sounds, Serbs have a deeply rooted custom of disowning kids in newspapers, more precisely in classified ads. In order to give voice to parents who supported their kids after declaring themselves as LGBT+, confront traditional society and awful practice of disowning kids in classifieds, we hijacked this small yet cruel media format, and used it as a tool to change the conversation. Da se zna!, NGO fighting for LGBT+ rights, partnered up with all main local and national newspapers and published a series of ‘I will never disown my child’ classifieds, allowing various families to support kids for being honest about who they really are. We made disowning classifieds lost their purpose, in front of those who used them, by turning them into medium for owning kids, no matter what! We wanted to start a change and we did it. With the classified ad!

Describe the PR strategy (30% of vote)

We needed to talk about LGBT+ people coming out to family members and their right to speak freely in society with deeply rooted custom of disowning kids in newspapers. For the first time we did not address the issue only in the media that support liberal point of view, but we went straight to the source of the problem – local newspapers that speak mainly about local problems. After the publication of classified ads, public figures as well as other media helped in spreading the campaign of parents' support. They started a conversation in the society about acceptance and turning the awful practice of ‘disowning’ kids in classified ads into a source of inspiration for acceptance.

Describe the PR execution (20% of vote)

Da se zna!, NGO fighting for LGBT+ rights, partnered up with all main local and national newspapers and published a series of classified ads, written by parents and families who supported their LGBT+ kids. The form of the classifieds remained well-known, but the art direction was slightly altered (with rainbow frame) in order to make it stand out in traditional black-white format. During the campaign, more parents contacted Da se zna!, asking to join the campaign and publish their own classifieds. In addition to classifieds, we created and invited people to online platform, where they could ask for advice anonymously. Both, parents and psychologists have answered. Timeline: 15 airings in 15 newspapers, published in the period 22.06.-05.07.

List the results (30% of vote)

With the media budget of 308 euros total, we reached 1. 5 million people in 3 days. Parents gathered and Serbian ’RAINBOW FAMILIES’ branch was established! As an organisation run by LGBT+ families, they act as a support network for parents and children, empowering LGBT+ families. ’I (Dis)Own’ became the moto of community, the theme of 6th Belgrade pride 2019. Major public figures and influencers supported the campaign by sharing the first classified ads published in 2 national newspapers, creating over 2. 7 million impressions on digital. All media portals shared the news about brave parents who supported kids publicly, including BBC in Serbian. 4 major TV stations did reportages on the news and in one of the most popular TV show there was a huge debate on the topic. Regional news covered the story about the campaign too.

Please tell us how you designed / adapted your campaign for the single country / region / market where it aired.

Our idea used the local insight of parents disowning their children in newspapers, through personal classified ads. This practice is well known only in Serbia and deeply rooted in Serbian culture. Parents do this for various reasons, disobedience, disrespect and immoral behavior, especially LGBT + orientation. The insight inspired execution: this time parents are not disowning their children, but doing quite the opposite. Accepting their LGBT + children!