The Pride Research shows how a brand platform can make effective changes beyond advertising.

In 2022 the Brazilian government excluded the LGBT+ population from the demographic census. To calm activists, they launched a survey pointing out that there are only 2,9 million LGBT+ in a country with more than 217 million people.

The Pride Research defies the government's research about the LGBT+ population by showing that this population is 15,5 million people (5x higher). It also points out, for the first time, important data about this population, such as their relationship with family and work.

The Brazilian government removed questions about sexual orientation and gender identity from the 2022 Census, which only happens every ten years.

This decision kept the LGBT+ community invisible, unable to claim their rights or fight for public policies. To calm down activists, the government released an official report pointing out that only 2,9 million of the population (1,9%) is part of the community. This data was allegedly underreported by activists and human rights specialists, making the community seem insignificant to public and private institutions.

Havaianas is present in more than 217 million homes and is an active LGBT+ ally brand. Havaianas's Pride Collection donates part of its sale to All Out, a global NGO. However, as a Brazilian brand, it needed to step up to give visibility to the community and show its real numbers (and colors).

Havaianas is a Brazilian lifestyle brand that stands for living a free life. For the past years, they have been investing in ally projects for the LGBT+ community in partnership with All Out. The brand advocated for the LGBTQ+ community through its Pride Collection for the third consecutive year. As solid as the Pride platform was, the brand was at risk of being affected by a dominant social conversation of a general disbelief in Pride activations, interpreted as Rainbow Washing. Havaianas had to reinforce its meaningful proposition towards a community to evolve its perception as a truly allied brand and be seen as more than a rainbow print in fashion products.

The determination of the government to exclude questions about gender identity and sexual orientation was a center of discussion in Brazil. When researching the community's struggles and demands through desk research, social listening, and official reports, we spotted fast-paced discussions around LGBT+ communities' lack of data. Internally, our biggest challenge was to portray the LGBT+ community in a survey better than the government did. To overcome that, we partnered with DataFolha - one of Brazil's most trustworthy research institutes. Together, we crafted a questionnaire form that portrayed the main topics that would help the community to be seen and ask for change. This survey took eight months and was done in more than 150 territories in Brazil (5th largest country in the world).

To fill the data gap left by the government, Havaianas took action to help the community step out of invisibility. By partnering with Datafolha, the most significant research institute in Brazil, and All Out, a global NGO, they created The Pride Research. The first research about the LGBT+ community on a national level. For the first time, 15,5 million people were recognized as LGBT+ in Brazil. Five times more than the government's data (2,9M). Together the brands joined efforts and spent 8 traveling to more than 150 cities covering all regions of the Brazilian territory. All this data generated a unique report with 78 pages about their needs, insecurities, and, more importantly, how many LGBT+ are in Brazil.

The Pride Research was sent to influencers, congresspeople, NGOs, institutions, and other brands, had its numbers turned into segmented DOOH, and was featured in a digital platform opened for everyone.

Pride Research has been used as a main source to implement internal projects within institutions. Unilever (Ben & Jerry's) has been using it as a main source to develop D&I projects; São Paulo's Pride Parade has been using the data to help them shape the 2023 Parade theme; +Diversidade has been using it to help their clients on D&I projects; All Out has already been using the data to push the government for affirmative laws; Congressman Fabio Felix is using the Pride Research to support bills and push the legislation chamber.

It has achieved a total of 14MM impressions; ≈ 1MM USD in earned media; 160 press publications only on its launch day; 8p.p. increase in the brand attribute of “inclusive brand that values diversity”; The volume sales for the Pride collection increased 75% in comparison to its launch year (2020).

Brazil went through 4 years of a highly conservative government, where the rights of minority groups were questioned several times. Bolsonaro's (aka Tropical Trump) moral positioning has increased LGBTphobia in our society and within the government itself.

Given this scenario, Bolsonaro's government was responsible for implementing the 2022 Census (which happens only every ten years). His government decided to eliminate questions about gender identity and sexual orientation. The LGBT+ community protested against his decision. To manipulate society in his favor and show how irrelevant this community is, the government released a Report pointing out that only 1,9% of the population is LGBT+, which was seen as entirely underreported. The government's report generated a lot of discussion about how underreported this data was on social media about how important it is to have the real numbers of a minority to ask for public policies and rights.