2021 Social & Influencer

#REALVOICESOFPRIDE

Title#REALVOICESOFPRIDE
BrandFELGTB
Product/ServiceFELGTB
Category A06. Not-for-profit / Charity / Government
Entrant EDELMAN Madrid, SPAIN
Idea Creation EDELMAN Madrid, SPAIN
Media Placement EDELMAN Madrid, SPAIN
Credits
Name Company Position
Judy John Edelman Global Chief Creative Officer
Stefan Ronge Edelman Chief Creative Officer EMEA
Mattias Ronge Edelman Chief Creative Officer EMEA
Pelayo Alonso Edelman General Manager
Lucia Carballeda Edelman General Manager
Felipe Braz Costa Edelman Creative Director
Aleix Perdigo Edelman Digital Director
Helena Centeno Crespo Edelman Creative Art Director
Maripaz Pascual Gandia Edelman Copywriter
David Pastor Edelman Graphic Designer
Joao Cavalcante Edelman Creative Retoucher
Carla Guerrero Edelman Trainee
Ignacio Perez Edelman Trainee
Henrique Tanji Ritmika Audio Arts Music Director
Nelson Ortiz Freelance Editor
Jordi Martinez Freelance Editor

Why is this work relevant for Social & Influencer?

#RealVoicesofPride is social-by-design, influencer-led campaign which used TikTok’s lip-sync function in a powerful and unexpected way to give persecuted members of the LGBTQIA+ a safe way to share their voice, for the first time. Kicked-off by influencers and picked up by TikTok users all over the world, we harnessed a global community to stand up for the rights of the LGBTQIA+, making what could have been Madrid’s quietest pride (due to lockdown restrictions) its loudest yet. The campaign transformed the reach of FELGTB from national to global, with over 500,000 interactions and 7.6 million content views.

Background

In 72 countries LGBTQIA+ people are discriminated against by law. In six of countries, homosexuality is a crime punishable by death. NGO FELGTB is a 25-year-old Spanish movement, that brings together 55+ LGBTQIA+ entities from across the Spanish territories, to fight for LGBTQIA+ rights. FELGTB won’t rest until legal equality and social respect for the LGBTQIA+ community is achieved everywhere. BRIEF Due to pandemic lockdowns, FELGTB couldn’t manifest as before. They asked us to help them show up for Pride from home. OBJECTIVES • Raise awareness of the deprivation of rights of LGBTQIA+ people living in 72 countries. • Create presence for FELGTB throughout Pride week despite not being able to take to the streets. • Reinforce FELGTB’s position as the largest representative organisation of LGBTQIA+ people in Spain. PROBLEM How do you highlight the plight of people living in these countries when identifying them could lead to their persecution?

Describe the creative idea (30% of vote)

In privileged countries we take freedom of expression for granted but for some, declaring an LGBTQIA+ identity is a death sentence. Could we get people all over the free world to stand up for LGBTQIA+ rights and give a voice to the voiceless, by the lending the very thing those people can’t show: their faces? Introducing the most important lip sync of all time: #RealVoicesofPride. We collected oppressed voices from around the world and invited TikTok users to share those voices through their own profiles, lip-syncing to bring them to life. Enabling the oppressed to speak their truth through the mouths of others made it safe for them to share their real voices for the first time and allowed a worldwide community to stand in solidarity with them. Because pride should never be silenced.

Describe the strategy (20% of vote)

Pride Month is a symbolic event that honours the historical Stonewall riots; a pivotal moment in LGBTQIA+ history. This was the key moment to leverage for campaign impact. Madrid’s Pride Parade is usually one of the biggest and most important in the world, with thousands of people taking the streets. But the Covid-19 pandemic, meant it couldn’t be celebrated in person this year as it would usually be. So we took to the virtual streets instead. The streets of TikTok. Using the Lip-sync function on TikTok, we entered a worldwide virtual space where LGBTQIA+ people from oppressed countries could parade freely and proudly express themselves, without danger of persecution. This also provided us a huge audience to spread awareness and understanding of the rights violations and lack of freedoms in some countries.

Describe the execution (20% of vote)

We identified real stories by contacting LGBTQIA+ collective advocacy institutions around the world. From there, we compiled the stories in audio and uploaded them on the FELGTB profile on TikTok. Through a simple button on the TikTok interface, anyone can use the audio from a video to create a new one, allowing people to Lip-Sync on the platform. We invited some influencers from the LGBTQIA+ collective to join the cause and kick-off the social activation. Each influencer selected one of our voices and created a video doing Lip-Sync, their videos quickly got a big audience, the algorithm started to suggest it to more people, people started making their own videos... and that's how a huge chain was formed. The campaign took place during Pride Week, but as the voices are still online. It continues to grow daily. The campaign ran for one month but is still alive organically.

List the results (30% of vote)

TikTok Results: • 3,7M+ views • 12M+ impressions • 500K+ interactions Coverage: • Picked up in 37 countries • 70M+ media impressions in earned media • Top coverage accross relevant outlets, including 3 national public TVs (TVE, TeleCinco, LaSexta news dailies), news agencies such as Europa Press, general online newspapers such as 20 Minutos, LGBTQIA+ community magazines such as Shangay • International campaign recognition in trade press, including Ad Age.