This year is the 50th anniversary of the partial decriminalisation of homosexuality in the UK; a landmark that represents a painfully recent memory for older generations of the LGBT+ community. Yet Pride focuses almost exclusively on young people, and all too easily excludes the older generations with their unique experiences and achievements going unrecognised; in truth, we have very little appreciation for the challenges they faced.

As part of Pride in London we wanted to celebrate LGBT+ equality with a reminder that the acceptance we’re fortunate to enjoy today is still relatively new. Many members of our LGBT+ community lived through much harder times, and many people around the world still do today.

Under Pride in London’s 2017 theme of Love Happens Here, we wanted to create a campaign that would inspire people to engage in an important conversation about life when LGBT+ equality is denied.

The Love Lived Here plaques were in place for the duration of the two-week Pride in London celebrations, covering the existing blue plaques of famous LGBT+ Londoners.

The plaques were promoted by a PR and outreach campaign. Using social analytics to identify relevant influencers and journalists who were able to visit the plaques, we encouraged people to share their unique first-hand experience with their followers. This was supported by a digital walking map that guided people between the plaques and a series of social posts giving more detail on the history behind each plaque.

Finally, as an unmissable climax, we took the campaign to London’s annual Pride parade using a mobile digital billboard. While a captive audience lined the streets celebrating this year’s Pride theme ‘Love Happens Here’ we showed footage of the plaques as a reminder that all this is only possible because Love Lived Here.