objective:

Pride in Canada is typically quite crowded with brand activations, few of which get much press attention, and many of which are subject to pink-washing criticisms. My goal (in partnership with Chimera Collective) was to establish and fill a critical gap in Pride storytelling, while simultaneously building community in an authentic way.

We found that there hadn’t been much coverage in Canada around the state of queer dating online, and queer communities’ dating app use cases and decided to launch an in-app study to discover insights in this vein. Results indicated that dating apps like Tinder act as supportive environments for identity exploration and expression, reflecting the larger interests of the Canadian queer community.

EXECUTION:

To celebrate the results—and Pride more generally—we worked with Bynk to host an intimate event for press, influencers, and community members, leveraging our (in)credible Canadian spokesperson to arm media with storytelling opportunities and drive face-to-face relationship building. The event was hosted in one of Toronto’s newest, coolest small venues and brought in queer vendors and artists to really celebrate community.

We also partnered with The 519, Canada’s largest LGBTQ2S community centre, which sits at the epicentre of Toronto Pride, to ground Pride initiatives in community support and involvement. A member of The 519 team spoke on the event panel, and brought a much-needed perspective.

Outcome: 

With only two weeks to execute, we were able to secure an incredible turnout of majority queer influencers and press, all of whom were deeply engaged with the panel discussion and on-site activations (including an expression-oriented charm necklace station and a branded juice bar that prompted posting and conversation).

The event, coupled with targeted pitching efforts, led to media coverage and compelling social posting. All coverage was positive, highlighting the possibility of dating apps as safer spaces for queer community building.