As principal partner of Sydney’s Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras, ANZ Bank has firmly established itself as a strong corporate supporter of the LGBTIQ+ community through its annual Mardi Gras campaigns.

In 2018, Sydney Mardi Gras celebrated Australia’s achievement of marriage equality and 40 years of LGBTIQ+ rights in Australia.

Come 2019, sitting inside the Sydney Mardi Gras ‘pride-bubble’ (as we termed it), you could be forgiven for thinking the ‘job was done’ for LGBTIQ+ equality and there was nought left to do but embrace the celebration.

But that would have been naive.

Our campaign objective was to promote ANZ’s support for diversity and inclusion and broaden awareness for ANZ’s Mardi Gras sponsorship beyond Sydney - into targeted local communities where LGBTIQ+ social issues persist.

Acknowledging we’d come a long way in LGBTIQ+ equality, our brief was to focus on ‘the more to be done’.

Discovering that Oxford Street in Sydney (the parade-route) was one of 123 Oxford Streets around Australia, our idea was to spread a little inclusion beyond Sydney to LGBTIQ+ individuals living away from the festival’s ‘pride-bubble’ - many whom felt isolated and vulnerable.

‘Signs of Love’ saw the ambitious, overnight metamorphosis of ‘other’ Oxford Streets into beacons of pride and inclusion.

In country towns across Australia, Oxford Street signs were transformed into shimmering, 3D sculptures, paying homage to familiar LGBTIQ+ icons, including:

‘We’re Not in Sydney Toto’ - an iconic rainbow.

‘Eternal Flame’- celebrating marriage equality.

‘Coming-Out’, - a unicorn ‘coming out’ in the bush.

“Pink FlaminGo-Go’ - loved-up flamingo sailors.

‘Love-is-Love’ - a lovestruck heart.

‘‘I’m Spinning Around’ - tribute to gay icon Kylie Minogue’s song by the same name.

‘Turn the Party’ - a glittering winged stiletto.

And a giant 123-sign Sydney sculpture pointing towards every other Oxford Street.

Our key target audiences were:

-Australia’s LGBTIQ+ community

-And more broadly, socially-minded Australians for increased brand affinity.

We started with audience research to understand what LGBTIQ+ issue required ANZ’s rally for an equal future.

Interviewing key community members, we heard story-after-story of the isolation and vulnerability felt “growing up gay in the bush”. Exploring this further in commissioned quantitative, we found 84% of LGBTIQ+ felt there were parts of Australia where it was unsafe to be themselves.

And so we had our rally and key message - “more needs to be done for LGBTIQ+ inclusion in regional Australia’.

To target earned media, localised PR releases, influencer interview footage and b-roll images of all signs were distributed to media nationally to maximise reach and provide breadth of angle.

And multiple media launches were held across Australia for a simultaneous sign reveal.

To maximise impact (and budget), we installed a hero sign in each state.

A reconnaissance of 123 towns simply wasn’t feasible, so we turned to Google street-view - giving us another idea. What if Google captured new footage for our signs to live-on indefinitely?

In an agency world-first, Google agreed, loaning us their cameras, stitching-in new footage and providing live 360-viewing access for all the world to see.

Multiple installation and production teams were dispersed far-and-wide for a simultaneous overnight installation.

We then hosted multiple regional media launches to unveil each sign to their local community, including the reveal of a four-tonne, 6-metre ‘Sign of Love’ at Sydney’s Bondi Beach pointing to all 123 Oxford Streets.

On the same morning, we put out a social video to share the story.

And as a final touch, we created ANZ branded Giphy stickers, inviting Oxford Streets the world-over to join in.

The story of Auntie Cece, from the country-town of Mittagong is our proudest result. Our idea was designed to reach LGBTIQ+ individuals isolated from the inclusion of Sydney’s Oxford Street. To let them know that it was okay to be gay, or (in Auntie Cece’s case), transgender.

When Mittagong’s sign was vandalised, Auntie Cece took to social media in response to the hateful act, declaring she wouldn’t be silenced and revealing she was transgender. The sign was later stolen and two more were vandalised - further reinforcing the need for them.

At a macro level:

-The campaign delivered 239 million impressions

-with 396 media hits across TV, Press, Radio and Online.

-Receiving 99% positive sentiment,

- 10m+ views of Giphys

- Awareness of ANZ’s Mardi Gras sponsorship grew outside of Sydney by 78%

- Successfully amplified ANZ’s reputation, increasing by 25% the belief that ANZ 'supports diversity and inclusion'.