THE RAINBOW HACK

TitleTHE RAINBOW HACK
BrandCHANGE.ORG, HAYATA DESTEK, AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL, GREENPEACE, ESHID, MOR ÇATI
Product/ServiceTHE RAINBOW HACK
Category F03. Media Execution
Entrant VMLY&R Istanbul, TURKEY
Idea Creation VMLY&R Istanbul, TURKEY
Credits
Name Company Position
Arkın Kahyaoğlu VMLY&R Istanbul Executive Creative Director
Emir Yüksel VMLY&R Istanbul Creative Director
Önder Bayraktar VMLY&R Istanbul Creative Group Head
Mustafa Gülsen VMLY&R Istanbul Deputy Creative Director
Aylin Atabay VMLY&R Istanbul Copywriter
Şadi Akbudak VMLY&R Istanbul Art Director
Burcu Kurtuluş VMLY&R Istanbul Managing Director
Dilara Ergün VMLY&R Istanbul Brand Team Director
Nazlı Polat Çetin VMLY&R Istanbul Brand Manager
Beril Koç VMLY&R Istanbul Head of Production
Umut Tangör VMLY&R Istanbul Agency Producer
Selen Saltıkalp VMLY&R Istanbul PR Manager
Berkant Kuru VMLY&R Istanbul Head of Digital Insight & Social Communication
Barış Kaan Akbaş VMLY&R Istanbul Content & Community Team Lead
Nilüfer Karaarslan VMLY&R Istanbul Digital Insight Lead
Uğur Işık VMLY&R Istanbul Digital Insight Analyst
Ebru Tonel VMLY&R Istanbul Community Manager
Kardelen Gürkan VMLY&R Istanbul Community Manager

Why is this work relevant for Media?

The essence of the idea is to bring 6 non-governmental organisations together on the billboards. These 6 different billboards don’t mean a lot while they are standing separately. But when they come together with their original colors they create a rainbow flag. So medium wise this work had to use 6 billboards side by side to stand together and show their colors proudly. All negotiations and buying of media was made accordingly and as a result of this rainbow colors stood side by side in different locations of Turkey.

Background

Since 2015 Pride Parade in Turkey is banned! Painting stairs in rainbow colors is banned! Selling rainbow colored products without an adult warning is banned! Wearing a pride t-shirt as a national football player is banned! Which means the rainbow flag is banned in every part of daily life and LGBTI+ community is being ignored. Despite all the bans we wanted to create a rainbow flag with 6 different NGOs and celebrate the pride month standing with LGBTI+ community.

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

They can ban the flag but they cannot ban the colors. Six different non-governmental organisations from different backgrounds -a great fit for the diversity emphasis of rainbow flag- came together to run an outdoor campaign. Each used their corporate color codes to convey messages supporting both their organisations and LGBTI+ community. As a beautiful coincidence, those 6 billboards stood side-by-side. These six non-governmental organisations raised LGBTI+ flags all over Turkey by 'accidentally' coming together on billboards.

Describe the strategy (20% of vote)

You can not use legal media channels to display a rainbow flag in Turkey. Either it wouldn be banned or it would be taken down quickly. But what if we use 6 different colors in different billboards? Then it would be ok we guess! So we took our chances and started looking for the perfect locations to do this. We knew that the LGBTI+ community is very active on social media. Surely the #RainbowHack was going to become a sensation and they would take photos of it and share. Our approach was to create almost an iconic mural for them to share and join the celebration giving the message “We are here to stay!”

Describe the execution (20% of vote)

We bought billboards in different cities of Turkey. All negotiations were made to buy 6 billboards side by side every time. The messages of 6 NGOs were displayed on these billboards side by side to create the rainbow flag in every location. These messages were supporting and meaningful for both the LGBTI+ community and their own organisations: Change.org: Change is possible together. Hayata Destek: Support life for an equal world. Amnesty International / Turkey: All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. Greenpeace: Together for the world. ESHIDi: Do not condone discrimination. Mor Çatı: For an equal and free life away from violence. The implementation was timed to the end of pride month to make a cheerful finale to the month.

List the results (30% of vote)

The Rainbow Hack was the 1st to unite 6 different non-governmental organisations to raise rainbow flag during Pride Month. The campaign was organically shared by celebrities and influencers. It hit tens of news sites all around the world and became a trending topic throughout the LGBTI+ community. Despite all the bans, we celebrated Pride Month with more than 10 million reach and 3 million impressions. 98% of these impressions were positive mentions. With a very small outdoor budget, we created a digital campaign worth millions of liras. All six non-governmental organisations increased their social media followers between 10% and 35%