Who: Egale Canada, with Cossette and Cossette Media. Production partners were Soda, Westside Studio, Rooster, Berkeley and The Vanity.
What: “Coming out loud,” a campaign timed to coincide with National Coming Out Day (Oct. 11), that featured three individuals who came out via large billboards.
When & Where: The campaign ran in the GTA between Oct. 5 and 11, using space donated by Canada’s major OOH advertising companies including Pattison, Outfront, UB Media, AllVision and Bell Media.There was also microsites for each of the three people in the campaign linking to Egale’s educational resources.
Why: Egale’s executive director Helen Kennedy says the campaign was intended to celebrate the three people who decided to come out, as well as sending a signal to the LGBTQ+ community that Egale is there to support anyone who might require its services.
It’s the latest in a series of attention-getting campaigns from Egale, including trying to get a famous Canadian drag queen on the Ellen show, and a short film linking the frustration and anxiety felt by Canadians unable to “come out” during the pandemic to that of people within the LGBTQ+ community.
How: The campaign enabled three people to come out to family and friends in a big way, with giant billboards announcing their orientation via messages including “to all my buds, I’m bi,” “Mother dearest, I’m gay” and “To my oldest friend, I like dudes.”
Each billboard contained a link to a dedicated microsite providing a behind the scenes look at each person’s story and linking to Egale’s educational resources. Their stories were also housed on a website called ComingOutLoud.ca.
And we quote: “Creating content around sensitive topics is often a challenge, and coming out as part of the [LGBTQ+] community is a difficult topic to breach. It’s not everyday where we can help someone come out to their loved ones, and if this work was able to help even one person find the strength and live their truth, we view it as an overwhelming success.” —Craig McIntosh, executive creative director, Cossette
