Disney Star Network - the nation's storyteller, reaches 700 million viewers monthly, with 20,000+ hours of original content in 9 languages. Present in households, families watch content together, giving us the power to shape narratives. To tell inclusive stories that influence the heart of India.

Their purpose is to ‘Inspire A Billion Imaginations’ with diverse storytelling that drives social change.

However, how does one tell stories of everyone without the right words?

Because the regional words for the 125+ million Indians from the LGBTQIA+ community seemed to be forgotten by most.

Even though same-sex relationships between consenting adults were decriminalized, the hate crimes and biases continued.

Words of Pride – A step towards visibility, equality and confidence

People’s native language is what makes them feel visible and closer to their identity, family and society.

Hence, only language had the power to shape the world.

Reclaiming Respect Through Language

A lexicon of 246 respectful words for the community, across 7 regional Indian languages - found and taught. We brought together a collective of language experts, scholars and members of the LGBTQIA+ community to create a unique vernacular dictionary.

So everyone could identify themselves with pride in their native tongue, and the words never fell short again.

A campaign that highlights the convergence of language and respect.

It was launched on the anniversary of the historic Section 377’s repeal.

30 months of research, 7000 hours of collective collaboration by 150 folks from the community, allies, collectives, language experts, linguists, writers, culture makers and legal teams went into identifying the words for the community in 7 different languages.

The best way to disseminate these words was to create a website to make it easy to consume, understand and learn.

We had three audience segments:

The LGTBQIA+ community - To help them express themselves with pride.

Culture Makers - To make these words common parlance, we had to reach those who are responsible in creating change through their content - authors, lyricists, content writers and advertisers.

India at large - Our objective was also to create authentic allies, by educating them.

Our marketing mix, hence, was designed to not just maximize reach, but also induce action amongst them.

Words of Pride - a website glossary of respectful words in 7 regional languages was launched on the 5th anniversary of the repeal of Section 377.

Curated over 30 months of research and 7000 hours of collective collaboration, it was detailed with the correct pronunciation and sentences showcasing usage of the words.

Bollywood’s biggest LGBTQIA+ persona, ace director - Karan Johar (although identity has never been confirmed), launched the campaign.

Hundreds of influencers from the community joined in, urging people to learn and use the words.

The conversation was taken up with culture makers, writers and authors at India’s largest literature summit and ASCI, the regulatory authority of advertising in India.

It was spoken of in India’s biggest reality TV show Big Boss and coincided with the Supreme Court of India releasing a handbook to combat gender stereotypes - which mirrored our ethos and amplified its message

The campaign reached over 53.5 Million Indians and garnered 55+ Million video views including 196.6K+ engagements.

Disney Star India’s website traffic jumped 171% over the previous month.

An impressive 45% of the views on the platform were organic, which is 5x the industry benchmark, showcasing genuine interest and engagement from the community and the wider society as well.

While other brands were getting lambasted for “tokenism” and being deemed “woke”, the campaign saw a 92.2% positive sentiment.

In an era characterized by evolving inclusivity, the ‘Words of Pride’ campaign stands as a potent catalyst for transformation.