Outvertising reimagines classic ads in nationwide LGBT History Month campaign
The Media Plan
The UK advertising and marketing’s LGBTQIA+ advocacy group, has launched its biggest campaign to date using outdoor sites across the UK.
The campaign rewrites scripts and headlines from some of the world’s most well-known ads to make them more inclusive of LGBTQIA+ audiences, and will feature on out-of-home (OOH) billboard sites in London, Newcastle, Liverpool, Sheffield, Coventry, Hull and more.
The outdoor space was donated pro-bono by OOH platforms Open Media, Hi Rezz, and DOOH.com, in what new joint Outvertising CEO, Marty Davies, called “a true testament to the importance of allyship”.
Reworked spots include DeBeers’ Two Months Salary poster and Old Spice’s The Man Your Man Could Smell Like, and feature calls to action for LGBTQIA+ ad professionals and allies to join the Outvertising community.
An Outvertising spokesperson described the strategy as “unusual” in that the volunteer-led organisation had to balance its campaign objectives with where it could find free inventory and then leverage the media mix “in the best way possible”.
Another atypical element of the media strategy was the use of a broad reach channel like OOH to speak to a fairly niche audience of advertising and media professionals.
Jim de Zoete, executive creative of director at Across the Pond which handled the creative, said: “The campaign seeks to mobilise our industry to create serious change around diverse representation. There are so many of us who want to make a difference, but just don’t know how to have a real impact. Joining the Outvertising community is a great start. And what’s thrilling, and we hope this shows in the executions, is that this change is in your hands. Just by adapting a few words you can suddenly make the work, and the world, more inclusive.”
The OOH activation will be accompanied by a more targeted campaign with digital and social ads from agencies, brands and Employee Resource Groups throughout LGBT History Month.
“We’re looking to drive industry-scale change and this mix gives us that extra reach and opportunity to promote on other channels,” commented Davies.
They added: “One of the obstacles we face as a volunteer-led organisation is that our impact is significant but often hard to spot as it’s about long-term industry change. We wanted a way to show the world that we’re no longer a small grassroots organisation and we think outdoor gives us the impact our work deserves, especially when we can then talk about our outdoor activation online.”
The campaign’s success will be primarily measured by advertising and media professionals joining Outvertising’s Slack channel and online community, especially from outside London.
Davies concluded: “Outvertising is an independent voice standing up for queer people in our industry and beyond. To make that voice even louder we’re launching our biggest ever campaign and inviting everyone to join us. Together we can help write the LGBTQIA+ history of tomorrow, using the power and reach of advertising to shape society for the better.”
