With a limited paid media budget (under $50,000) we wanted to go beyond just a short term consideration spike, we wanted to create a movement that would not rest until same-sex marriage becomes law.

To do this, we needed a symbol that could be immediately recognisable, allow people to show their support and spark the volume of conversation and societal pressure that would be required to help create change.

We took one of the oldest symbols of marriage – the wedding ring – and turned it into a unique media channel, a symbol for marriage inequality, the Acceptance Ring.

The matte black metal ring is an incomplete circle with the gap serving as a physical representation of the gap in same-sex marriage in Australia, designed with support from world-renowned designer Marc Newson. It turned the hands of hundreds of thousands of Australians into a media channel supporting gay marriage.

The core execution was the ring itself and the ambient media that was created by having hundreds of thousands of Australians wearing it. With it’s distinctive look, and the huge levels of conversation around it across Australia, it became an always on media channel of support for gay marriage.

On top of this, all that ordered the ring were encouraged to take the pledge in social media to continue to fight for equality until everyone could belong. In these posts, the ring continued to be front center, driving our earned media reach.

Supporting this was a huge influencer outreach effort who were targeted with the first Acceptance Rings, all with the CTA to share #untilweallbelong.

As more corporations rallied to our cause, we were able to bring our message to life in increasingly unique ways – for example, across the back of all Qantas boarding cards for the month of may.

Within 3 days of our campaign launching, Airbnb became the most mentioned brand in both Australian and global conversations around same-sex marriage.

We rallied other major corporates to our cause, including ANZ, Qantas, eBay, PWC, Foxtel, Fairfax Media, Marie Claire, ARN (Australian Radio Network).

Our initial allocation was sold out within the first 24 hours. So far, 200,000 rings have been sold and are continuing to be ordered at a rate of 1,700/day.

From sports stars, to supermodels, to digital influencers, to politicians, to every day Australians – the Acceptance Ring is permeating all tiers of Australian culture.

We propelled the same-sex marriage conversation back into the forefront of public consciousness with over 2,000,000 shares of same-sex marriage articles in the 2 months since launch alone.

Despite the inherently divisive nature of this subject conversation around Airbnb’s initiative has been almost universally positive, with a sentiment score of 98% positive.

This campaign set out with a singular, powerful goal – to reignite the same-sex marriage debate in Australia at a time when it had dropped off the political radar.

Through our subversion of the most universal symbols of marriage – the wedding ring – we engaged the majority of Australians that are supportive of same-sex marriage, at the same time promoting the core foundations of the Airbnb brand; the desire that everyone should be met with tolerance and acceptance where ever they go.

Through 100,000’s of rings delivered and pledges of support taken, we thrust the same-sex marriage conversation back to where it deserves, in the spotlight putting pressure on the government and allowing people to see that Airbnb practice what they preach.

We knew if we could ‘normalise’ acceptance across all walks of life we could have significant impact on the same-sex marriage debate. Our strategic approach was to go beyond the core LGBTQ community, harnessing the support of the majority of Australians who want to see same-sex marriage become law.

Most Australians know someone who was personally affected by this lack of equality and that we had to make this personal for each and every person.

The acceptance ring would therefore be more than jewelry – it’d be a pledge & ambient media that stood out to all that saw it, always reminding them of the lack in equality in Australian marriage laws.

Whoever it is you are wearing the ring for, by making it personal we knew we could maximize the conversation, ensuring we keep this issue top of mind for all Australia every time you looked at your hand.

Australia is the last Western country in the world to ensure same-sex marriage by legalizing gay marriage. To the shame of many, politicians have decided to deny many this basic human right by turning it into a political bargaining chip, most recently cancelling plans for a national plebiscite on this issue that had been scheduled for the end of 2016.

Airbnb are a company that stand for something much greater than just travel. The mission statement at the heart of the brand is to help create a world where anyone can belong anywhere, to foster openness and inclusivity and to share these values on with the world.

For their first ever major campaign in Australia, they wanted to bring these core beliefs to life not just by saying it, but by bringing it to life through real world action.