Pride was set to mark ts 50th year of celebrations in the capital. In addition to this big milestone, the arrival of restriction-free events post-Pandemic also provided further fuel to the big celebration that was set for London Pride.
Our client, Tesco - who were celebrating over 10 years of supporting Pride in London and were incredibly proud to be the lead brand float and headline sponsor for the parade - challenged us with creating a brand presence fit for a mammoth milestone, under their Bursting with Pride campaign that had been used previously.
Our challenge was to create a big bang London Pride parade float for Tesco that would celebrate and communicate Tesco’s authentic support of Pride.
Even in today's world, we still see a lack of inclusion of the LGBTQ+ community. Tesco stands firm in its support of the community, both internally and in welcoming into stores for its own customers. This genuine relationship was the fundamental point from which this campaign was set to be built around…
The driving force behind our campaign for Tesco, was support and connection. Tesco had been a longstanding supporter of Pride, and we knew everything we came up with should be backed with meaning; reflecting the fact that the retailer has genuinely and unreservedly supported Pride for such a long time, and have ingrained connections to charities with the LGBTQ+ community at their heart. Tesco have recently been awarded as Stonewall’s Retailer of the Year – further showing the retailer's credentials in offering genuine support for the community. The retailer recognised their responsibility to the LGBTQ+ community: and all of this was a cause for celebration. This realness all fed into and informed our strategy for this activation.
Tesco’s existing Bursting-with Pride strap line had to be pivotal to this campaign, as the client was keen to keep the line at the forefront of the campaign. With this in mind, we brought our fantastic team of creatives together to see what ‘bursting’conjured up, creatively, in line with the celebratory aspect that was so key with Pride.
The strategy was built around the insight-led campaign - Bursting with Pride - that is all about connection to the community.
Our target audience was twofold: we had to consider both the gathered crowd on the London Pride Parade route (the LGBTQ+ community, young professionals and young families), and also the Tesco colleagues who had been invited to celebrate with the lead brand float.
All of this led to our creative concept: Jack in the Box! A experiential,surprise-and-delight show that quite literally bursts with prideover and over again.
Performers were located around two Jack in the Box structures where a clock dramatically counted down and caused a big bang! At the crescendo, dancers and actors repeatedly burst into life, much to the delight of the packed crowd. Were commended Tesco use LGBTQ+ talent for their float, reflecting the genuine celebrations and support for the community. Again, this fed into the real connection that was at the heart of this campaign.
This big bangmoment repeated for all to see; encouraging a buzz of excitement and cheers from the crowd.
The float played host to DJ Yuki, and two carefully-selected acts from the LGBTQ+ community: La Voix and Twist & Pulse. We were delighted to have Tesco colleague and member of the Tesco LGBTQ+ Network, Ben, who joined on the float as his Drag alter ego.
It was key that the front of the truck was dressed perfectly, as after all, it would be the first thing people would see! We adorned the front of the Tesco truck with brightly-coloured fruit in all colours of the rainbow, and the large ‘50’ which highlighted the 50 years of London Pride.
The reality was an eye-catching and perfectly-aligned Pride float that lifted everyone’s spirits and celebrated Pride with colleagues and customers alike. It was really important that the float design would give Tesco colleagues a reason to be proud to be a part of the retailer, so everything was designed with colleagues at forefront of mind.
200 store colleagues were invited to be a pivotal part of the activation, and we wanted them at the very heart; by marching beside and at the front of this lead brand float.Colleagues belonged to Tesco Colleague Networks, were part of the LGBTQ+community, or were allies of the community.
We briefed this controlled audience on what the day would have in store for them, and immersed them in the celebrations before the float even set out on its route with regular communication.
These colleagues arrived at the Tesco store on the morning to collect their Bursting with Pride t-shirts, before having their faces painted. They were invited to march behind the float, they handed out Tesco tote bags to the crowd as we passed them by and were an integral part of the celebration.
Alessandra Bellini,Chief Customer Officer at Tesco, was even a part of the float!
And afterwards, the colleagues were invited to a ticketed VIP party to keep the celebration going.
At Tesco Head Office we held an event - led by the LGBTQ+ Network - to celebrate, complete with photobooth so colleagues could share their selfies Bursting with Pride.
Pride is a celebration; so we knew we had to ensure what we delivered was joyous and loud.It had to be welcoming for all and highlight that everybody was a part of this celebration. And that’s what our London Pride campaign for Tesco delivered. And later this year, we’re proud to be heading to Brighton and Hove Pride with Tesco to celebrate once again – celebrating 30 years of Pride in Brighton.
