Title	DRESSCODE: FREEDOM
Brand	ZALANDO
Product/Service	HELSINKI PRIDE COLLABORATION
Category	A01. Glass
Entrant	SEK | PART OF GREY Helsinki, FINLAND
Idea Creation	SEK | PART OF GREY Helsinki, FINLAND
PR	SEK | PART OF GREY Helsinki, FINLAND
PR 2	MILTTON Helsinki, FINLAND
Production	SEK | PART OF GREY Helsinki, FINLAND
Production 2	SIMELIUS SIMELIUS Raisio, FINLAND
Post Production	SIMELIUS SIMELIUS Raisio, FINLAND

Name	Company	Position
Annu Terho	SEK | PART OF GREY	Creative Director, Senior Creative
Heli Roiha	SEK | PART OF GREY	Creative Director, Senior Creative
Hanna Nordgren	SEK | PART OF GREY	Client Director
Elisa Korhonen	SEK | PART OF GREY	PR specialist
Emilia Hallberg	SEK | PART OF GREY	Project Manager
Jan Paasonen	SEK | PART OF GREY	Content Designer
Joni Luhtala	SEK | PART OF GREY	SoMe film photography and edit
Antti Orava	SEK | PART OF GREY	Assistant copy editor
Nana Simelius	Simelius & Simelius	Film Direction, Still photography
Juhana Simelius	Simelius & Simelius	DOP, edit
Meri Milash	Simelius & Simelius	Stylist
Sasu Rönkä	ItsLee	Music
Sarrah Wilkman	GradeOne	Colorist
Atte Heinonen	Simelius & Simelius	Behind the Scenes Materials & Mini Docs (DOP)
Fatma Bendris	Simelius & Simelius	Muah
Noora Varrio	Simelius & Simelius	Muah assistant
Pauliina Karhu	Miltton	IM Consultant
Artturi Mikola	Miltton	PR Consultant
Oona Kivirinta	Miltton	Communications Coordinator
Reetta Wallen	Miltton	Strategist
Eva Niskanen	Miltton	Senior Advisor, Account Lead
Krista Autio	Zalando	Marketing Manager
Melika Sasani	Zalando	Senior PR Manager
Aapeli Helkkula	Zalando	Retail Manager
Meri Saarivirta Bezus	Zalando	Copywriter
Tomi Härmä	SEK | PART OF GREY	Consultant

Why is this work relevant for Glass: The Award for Change

Clothes are the most visible way of expressing yourself. But historically, clothes have also been a symbol of freedom not yet achieved. A freedom to choose the way we dress has a vital role in building our identity. Zalando wants everyone to have the freedom to express themselves by dressing the way they like. Dresscode: Freedom campaign gives a voice to people who were forced to hide their true selves and conform to the prevailing dresscodes and norms of the time but who also had the courage to step up and fight the injustice. The campaign shows the true faces of change – and gives the younger generations a proof that the change is possible - that the world will change when we step up to change it. Dresscode: Freedom campaign is also a love letter to the true Pride pioneers.

Background

Zalando is Helsinki Pride’s main partner. Zalando is seen more as a functional brand than a brand with a strong personality or standing for clear values. The brand has to improve in driving relevance, conversations and talkability. Zalando’s vision is to become the Starting Point for Fashion, and diversity and inclusion as well as driving positive change have an important role in this journey. Zalando is striving to show support for diversity and inclusion, openly stand with minority communities and speak up against injustice and inequality. Our brief was to build a digital- and social-first holistic campaign around Zalando’s partnership with Helsinki Pride, which leaned on their brand belief of empowering self-expression through embracing personal stories, based on a local and highly relevant partnership. The campaign was to deliver according to Zalando’s marketing vision and strengthen the perception of Zalando as a value-driven, authentically inclusive and socially responsible brand.

Describe the cultural / social / political climate in your region and the significance of your campaign within this context

It's not that long ago when a woman wearing trousers instead of a skirt or a dress was considered inappropriate. As recently as last year, a man wearing a dress on the cover of Vogue sparked a major controversy. These are just a couple of examples of why it’s so important to create campaigns that highlight the fact that personal freedom, such as everyone’s right to dress how they prefer and be who they are, is a basic human right. Diversity has many faces. We’re still not seeing enough people of all ages represented in advertising – especially when it comes to fashion. Finland is quite a liberal country but still not immune to discrimination. Young people belonging to sexual and gender minorities in Finland are subjected to various forms of discrimination, which has an impact on their wellbeing. Incidence of so-called minority stress is not due purely to young people themselves having experienced discrimination, but also to their own internalised normative concepts, which affect their perception of themselves and their own possibilities. Therefore it is vital to see diversity in advertising in all its forms to normalise it.

Describe the creative idea

Dresscode: Freedom campaign turns the spotlight on senior pioneers of the Finnish LGBTQ+ scene. The campaign shows these pioneers in outfits they were longing to wear decades ago but were unable to because of the prevailing intolerance – or the fear of being labelled mentally ill or a criminal. In this campaign we show the true faces of the change. In individual true story films of each pioneer they had a chance to tell their life story and what part fashion has played in their journey. With these stories we give the younger generations a proof that change is possible and you just need the courage to fight for your rights. This campaign celebrates people who were forced to hide away their true selves and conform to the prevailing dress-codes and norms of the time. These pioneers carved the path for the rights that gender/sexual minorities have today.

Describe the strategy

In 2021, Helsinki Pride celebrated some important milestones in Finland: 50 years since the decriminalisation of homosexuality, 40 years since homosexuality was erased from the mental health classification, and 30 years since the establishment of Helsinki Pride. Therefore, the focus of the public conversation was in these achievements. Our strategy was to get into this same conversation by telling stories about Pride pioneers who finally have the freedom to dress they would’ve wanted to when they were young. We implemented clothes into the conversation as a symbol of freedom and our stories became part of the overall narrative of pride community’s fight for equality. We targeted our campaign to new and existing customers, all sexes between 18-34yrs. Our target group was intelligent, highly educated, curious and optimistic people who love fashion as part of looking and feeling good and as a way to express themselves.

Describe the execution

The campaign started at the same time with Helsinki Pride week and was live for two weeks. The multichannel campaign had a strong presence on social media and in outdoor advertising spaces around the major cities in Finland, including large display screens in central Helsinki. The ad campaign was supported by a series of influencer collaborations, which added a new layer to the campaign story by combining the LGBTQ+ influencers of the modern-day with the pioneers. Pioneer's stories were also shared through PR to gain more public conversation.

Describe the results / impact

Dresscode Freedom advertising campaign reached 1,25 million individual Finns with altogether 25,3 million ad impressions. The campaign made an all time record in Brand Heat, which is Zalando’s own online metric including ratio between engagement and impressions and positive sentiment. Brand Heat was +11% higher than in Zalando Summer Campaign 2021 and +82% higher than in Zalando Pride Campaign 2020. While engaging the audience, it also made them to act: Click-through-rate rocketed up to +113% higher CTR than in Zalando Pride campaign 2020 and +59% higher CTR than in Zalando Summer Campaign 2021. Additionally the stories of the pioneers were engaging also in PR. In Finnish news media they got a total amount of 7,9 million impressions in various articles. Conversation was raised all the way to the main media in Finland. And due to this raised conversation Finland's transgender law about forced sterilization is finally proceeding to parliament.