The whole industry is invited to an evening of discovery as we celebrate the power of positive representation, September 17th from 5-7 pm via weblink.
Whilst Pride may have been in lockdown this year, we know the advertising industry can still come out virtually in force. The Outvertising Awards are an opportunity to celebrate the fantastic progress that has been made in LGBTQ+ inclusive advertising as well as to accelerate new ideas and opportunities that are yet to be made. It’s not a standard awards night, but instead a vibrant mix of discussions, personal perspectives and some unexpected entertainment to keep you on the edge of your living room seats.
This has been a year like no other, and we recognise the immense pressure it is putting on people across the creative industry, especially members of minority communities. We also recognise the heightened importance of diversity & representation at this time, and the overwhelming enthusiasm we’ve heard from the creative community to use their talents to do something about it. If you want to understand more about the positive opportunity to feature or engage the LGBTQ+ community in your advertising, then this is the place to be.
We’ll be showcasing the fantastic efforts of the One Minute Briefs community to include work that is yet to be made, as well as telling the story of how some of that has come to life across the country this month to inspire future creativity. Our judges will also be highlighting the best recent activations around Pride & well beyond, and we’ll be awarding the Outvertising Awards to the activation, campaign and brand of the year. Our main Awards categories have been decided by our judging panel, but due to the unusual year we proactively looked across the industry at work even if it hadn’t been specifically submitted.
The awards will be hosted virtually, are open to all, and are kindly supported by Facebook. There’ll be an opportunity to hear from creatives, brands, judges, influencers and broader members of the LGBTQ+ marketing community to better understand the opportunity for brands, as well as what the experience of Pride has been in this lockdown year. It will be a moment of education and opportunity for celebration across the marketing industry, whether you’ve done great work this year or want to be inspired around what you could be doing next.
“I really learn from people in the community, about what really impacts them and what they like. I was sat there learning most of the time, and getting perspectives on the work that I wouldn’t necessarily have thought about. Some of the subtleties and some of the traps that people fall into can be so easy to understand when you really get under the skin of how to get the best and most natural portrayal of LGBTQ+ people in advertising.”
“What I’ve seen change most in this space over the last few years is a shift from tokenism, where it felt that some advertising was becoming a bit tick box, to the work I’ve seen through the Outvertising Awards which feels like genuine work where LGBT+ characters are central to the work, central to the narrative, have a key role to play, and are well represented. There is absolutely fantastic work which we as a community should be proud of.”
“I was particularly happy to see lots of trans and non-binary entries, I could see my face coming back at me through those adverts. The changes I’ve seen in the D&I space this year have been amazing. We’re getting the right representations in adverts now - a couple of years ago they weren’t really representative, more glamour and fetish. Now we’re seeing trans and non binary people going around their day jobs and I think that’s really really good.”