The bank of Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) was entering its 11th year of support for Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, and fifth as partner of Auckland Pride.

ANZ has become one of the loudest and most consistent corporate supporters of the LGBTI community. The ongoing sponsorship of Sydney Mardi Gras and Auckland Pride events allow them to demonstrate their internal values of diversity, inclusion and respect.

After years of celebrating the events in a fabulously, fun spirit we wanted to do something that contributed to LGBTI equality in a more meaningful way, that showed a deeper understating and empathy.

Even in 2017, not only were we still waiting for marriage equality (Australia), but the simple act of holding hands was still difficult for many LGBTI people.

We wanted to change behavior and perceptions and show support for this, the simplest gesture of love and a basic human right.

The film opens with a series of intimate vignettes of hands finding each other. Everyday moments like walking down the street, or laying on a blanket in a park.

We reveal the hands are those of LGBTI couples.

We then see a series of shots of these couples holding hands, but encountering a situation that makes them feel uncomfortable, so they let go.

However, in a moment of pride, two men decide to hold tight to each other as they walk past a busy pub.

A super appears over their tight grip: ‘When you feel like letting go. #HOLDTIGHT’

We then move into a supercut of couples holding tight.

The film closes with a super that reads ‘ANZ is proud to continue supporting Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, and the Auckland Pride Festival followed by ANZ’s logo and their brand values ‘diversity, inclusion, respect.’

ANZ launched the idea with staff interviews about holding hands. These videos were distributed amongst some 50,000 employees on ANZ’s internal network, then publicly on social media.

A day ahead of Valentine’s Day, Media relations provided the sobering support by going to market with ANZ’s research findings.

ANZ then released an online film featuring real couples that demonstrated a situation all-too-real for so many LGBTI people when holding hands in public - the moment where they let go.

Billboards, radio and GAYTMs continued the #HOLDTIGHT theme.

Bringing the campaign to life at Mardi Gras, ANZ developed a piece of wearable tech - a custom wristband, that used infrared to detect proximity between two people, lighting up when they held hands.

More than 6,000 were distributed to attendees of the pride events, activating the campaign en masse.