RAINBOW BRANDS

TitleRAINBOW BRANDS
BrandDENTSU ITALY
Product/ServicePRIDE CAMPAIGN BY DENTSU MEDIA AND SEVERAL CLIENTS
Category B03. Use of Print / Outdoor
Entrant DENTSU CREATIVE Milan, ITALY
Idea Creation DENTSU CREATIVE Milan, ITALY
Media Placement DENTSU CREATIVE Milan, ITALY
PR DENTSU CREATIVE Milan, ITALY
Production DENTSU CREATIVE Milan, ITALY
Post Production DENTSU CREATIVE Milan, ITALY
Credits
Name Company Position
Gianluca Nucaro The Story Lab Copywriter
Daniele Baglioni The Story Lab Art Director
Chiara Aldeghi The Story Lab Accounting
Maurizio Tozzini The Story Lab Executive Creative Director
Stefano Morelli Dentsu Creative Chief Creative Officer

Why is this work relevant for Media?

Instead of fighting each other for visibility, for the very first time during Milan Pride week, 10 brands agreed to share the same ad placement, will it be print or OOH, giving up their ego, in order to take a stand for inclusion. Our print ads also took part in a very relevant real time conversation, such as the Vatican trying to getting in the way of the approval of an anti-homophobic law by Italian Parliament. We placed our ads on major newspapers right below articles that presented Vatican's conservative point of view, giving space to a more inclusive perspective.

Background

During Pride every single brand try to gain visibility by taking a stand for diversity. We, as a media agency, wanted to celebrate it in a different way. We wanted every brand to truly embody inclusion with actions and not just with ads.

Describe the creative idea / insights (30% of vote)

How can a media agency celebrate Pride in a very impactful way? We decided to do it involving our clients. That's how we gathered 10 famous brands together and turn them into a symbol (and a living example) of inclusion.

Describe the strategy (20% of vote)

For our OOH placements, we chose Milan, which during Pride week hosts a very important parade. Also, all the other local Pride movements in Italy look at Milan as their main stage, and lots of LGBTQ+ people reach the city every year to join the parade through the city streets, which ends in Porta Venezia - the neighbourhood of LGBTQ+ communities in Milan. We carefully selected placement with a strong relevance for LGBTQ+ communities in Milan and for joiners coming from other cities (Piazzale Lodi - busy square near the crowded restaurants-neighbourhood of Porta Romana - Cadorna Railway Station - in the middle of the city - and Porta Venezia - the neighbourhood of LGBTQ+ communities in Milan). Print placement, on the other hand, included major newspapers to reach a different target: companies and C-levels.

Describe the execution (20% of vote)

Using brand logotypes and colors we created a simple yet powerful visual that resembles the Pride flag. The headline reinforced our message, stating a simple truth. Diversity makes everything more beautiful. Even an ad. We then chose high impact media spaces (OOH and print) to deliver the message. While the OOH lasted for 7 day from june 20 to 27 2021, it has been instantly shared on social media becoming one of the icons of Milan Pride Week. Print ads, instead, appears in national newspaper and got involved in the dispute between the vatican and the italian parliament.

List the results (30% of vote)

We generated 3.5M impressions, a stunning 93% positive sentiment for the campaign as much as for the brands. And since it was a campaign for a media company, Dentsu donated 50% of the total media budget to LGBTQ+ charities. Overall, the campaign showed that brand can be a shiny example of inclusivity and a powerful voice to inspire change. When they get together, they can get astonishing results. By the way, the law against homotransphobic violence is on its way to approval by the Italian Parliament.