Gill Foundation
The Gill Foundation hired DDB Issues & Advocacy to develop a campaign to stir the conversation of equal opportunity for all people, regardless of sexual orientation. Our specific goals were to broaden the understanding of “gay rights” to include freedom from workplace discrimination and to drastically increase sympathy and empathy for LGBT individuals.
We aimed to motivate people (research identified educated women 18–40 and, specifically, women 25–34 as the movable middle) to reexamine their predisposed beliefs on the issue. To counter the opposition’s use of fear and fiction, the centerpiece of the campaign was a series of mini-documentaries featuring LGBT individuals who “came out” on the job in states where their employment was not protected. At the conclusion, viewers were directed to a website to learn how the stories ended and access additional information about the inequalities that research showed would help sway their beliefs.
Through the website, DDB captured email addresses for ongoing communication, allowing us to share vital information about key issues, breaking news and voting opportunities.
The campaign was tracked in three markets and results exceeded expectations in each. Post campaign, people were up to six times more likely than before to volunteer job discrimination as an LGBT issue they had heard about recently.
Television, print and online media were used to stimulate awareness and evoke personal interest, and public relations, grassroots organizing, and ambient media deepened the story.