Dublin Bus – The Long Road To Pride
On Saturday June 29th, public service provider, Dublin Bus, celebrates the people who made Pride in Dublin possible, the older LGBTQ+ generations, with a new activation, The Long Road to Pride. Working with creative agency ROTHCO, part of Accenture Interactive, Dublin Bus decided to bring together people, young and old, from the LGBTQ+ community to create a more inclusive Pride.
#TheLongRoadToPride #DBPride #50years #RainbowRevolution #Pride
Pride is known as one of the most inclusive events of the year. However, Dublin Bus and ROTHCO noticed that one demographic was notably absent from the celebrations: the older LGBTQ+ generations. In 2018, fewer than 1% of Pride attendees in Ireland were aged over 65. Despite their crucial role in carving out LGBTQ+ rights in Ireland today, they are often forgotten about and disconnected from their community. With the decline of gay bars, there are very few intergenerational spaces left for them to socialise with the rest of the community.
They are also some of the most vulnerable members of society: older LGBTQ+ people are 50% more likely to be living alone compared to heterosexual people their age (be it that they’re single, never had children or are estranged from family), and are five times more likely to have mental health issues. So, although they’ve never needed the LGBTQ+ community more, they can’t find a way in, even at Pride.
This year, Dublin Bus and ROTHCO wanted to encourage LGBTQ+ people over the age of 65 to come along on Pride, a celebration they helped lay the foundations to. They paired older LGBTQ+ people with younger members of the LGBTQ+ community to attend the party together. The pairs all have something in common; either coming from the same place, sharing similar experiences, or occupations, so their friendship begins with a common ground.
Mary Ryan, Marketing and Information Manager at Dublin Bus comments: “Dublin Bus is one of the last places where people of all ages, backgrounds and orientations come together, but at Pride one group is not on board. Dublin Bus is a space for everyone and it’s important people really feel that. Inclusion is so important to us and when the team in ROTHCO brought this issue to us, we knew it was something we wanted to support. When it comes to Pride no one should be left behind.”
John McMahon, Creative Director, comments: “Pride has become something of a ‘brandwagon’ that anyone and everyone feels they can jump aboard. But we didn’t want to be part of the feeding frenzy. And even though Dublin Bus have historically supported Pride (notably with last year’s ‘Proud Dads’ activation), we agreed with them that we should only get involved if we could find a way to make ourselves useful to the LBGTQ community itself. And I think we found that way. An entire generation of older Irish LGBTQ people missed the Pride party because Ireland was an intolerant place. Given that the bus is one of the few inter-generational places we have in our society, it felt appropriate to right that wrong by bringing some of those people ‘into the fold’ of Pride using the bus itself. I’m really proud of what we’ve done. Usually in advertising, we’re giving a voice to the noisiest people around! This was one time we got a chance to give a voice to some people who are quite under-represented, both in the context of Pride and in Irish life in general.”
About ROTHCO
Over the past 23 years ROTHCO has risen to become a leading creative agency in Ireland. But they have always been driven by a global ambition. To this end they have produced campaigns that have run in 23 markets, for brands such as Heineken, Aon, Unilever, AIB, Hailo/MyTaxi, Rory McIlroy Inc., Kodak and Tesco.
Their work has been globally recognised with awards from every major global awards show and in 2018 they took home 117 international awards, including the coveted Cannes Lions Grand Prix in the Creative Data category.
In 2018 they spoke for the fourth time at The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. This followed an acquisition deal with Accenture Interactive earlier in the year, giving their ambitions an exciting new edge.
About Accenture Interactive
Accenture Interactive helps the world’s leading brands transform their customer experiences across the entire customer journey. Through our connected offerings in design, marketing, content and commerce, we create new ways to win in today’s experience-led economy. Accenture Interactive is ranked the world’s largest digital agency in the latest Ad Age Agency Report, for the third year in a row. To learn more, follow us @AccentureACTIVE and visit www.accentureinteractive.com
Credits
Client: Dublin Bus
Campaign: The Long Road to Pride
Marketing & Information Manager: Mary Ryan
Marketing Executive: Regina Graham
Marketing Executive: Claire Corcoran
Marketing Executive: Kate Furlong
Agency: ROTHCO (part of Accenture Interactive)
Creative Director: John McMahon
Executive Creative Director: Alan Kelly
Copywriter: Jack Roberston
Art Director: Barry Sweeney
Senior Account Director: Emily Lyons
Senior Account Manager: Aoife O’Shea
Account Manager: Laura Redden
Agency Producer: Karina Cotter
Agency Executive Producer: Jess Darby
Head of Production: Margaret Levingstone
Senior Strategist: Darius Pasalar
Strategist: Katie Cleary
Graphics: Eoin Lennon
Production Company: Antidote
Executive Producer: Andrew Freedman
Director: Ken Wardrop
Post Production: Windmill Lane
Editor: John O’Connor
Sound: Mark Henry
Grade: James Bramford
Tags:
Digital, Film, The Long Road to Pride, Best Tv Commercials, Inspiring Short Films, Best Commercial Ads, Best TV Ads
