Ssex Bbox: Kiss The Kremlin [image]

Credits & Description:

Title: Kiss The Kremlin
Agency: Dm9ddb
Brand: Ssex Bbox
Country: Brazil
Entrant Company: Dm9ddb, São Paulo
Advertising Agency: Dm9ddb, São Paulo
Media Agency: Dm9ddb, São Paulo
Pr Agency: Ello Agency, Rio De Janeiro
Additional Company: Panela, São Paulo
Chief Creative Officer: Aricio Fortes (Dm9ddb)
Creative Chairman: Nizan Guanaes (Dm9ddb)
Executive Creative Director: Paulo Coelho (Dm9ddb)
Digital Chief Creative Officer: Eduardo Battiston (Dm9ddb)
Agency Producer: Pedro Bueno, Rodrigo Luchini (Dm9ddb)
Vp Of Client Service: Marcelo Passos (Dm9ddb)
Creative Director: Adriano Alarcon (Dm9ddb)
Creative Director: Carlos Schleder (Dm9ddb)
Art Director: Leandro Vilas Boas (Dm9ddb)
Copywriter: Hélio Maffia (Dm9ddb)
Operations Director: Luciana Leal (Dm9ddb)
Motion Designer: Leonardo Nichida (Dm9ddb)
Public Realtions: Andrea Nascimento (Dm9ddb)
Social Media - Pr: Thaís Chaves (Dm9ddb)
Ceo: Priscilla Bertucci, Júlia Rosemberg (Ssex Bbox)
Pr Director: Paula Bezerra De Mello (Ello Agency)
Composer: Daniela Galli, Filipe Trielli (Panela)
Sound Design Arrangement: David Mazzuca, João Janjão Vasconcelos (Panela)
Sound Studio: Jonathas, Joba, Matias Vellutini, Chandra Lima (Panela)
Convergence Director: Joca Guanaes (Dm9ddb)
Digital Producer: Fernando Tosta (Dm9ddb)
Creative Director: Gonzalo Ricca (Dm9ddb)
Execution:
To raise awareness among our target audience, we created a video that was published on Ssex Bbox’s social media platforms. The video showed the current situation facing Russia’s LGBTQ population. At the end of the video, people were invited to participate in the action using the hashtag #kiss4LGBTQrights. In addition to the video, we counted on LGBTQ influencers, activists, and celebrities from many different countries to share the project with their followers.
Synopsis:
How could we protest in a place where LGBTQ protests put protestors’ liberty and safety at risk?In Russia, LGBTQ protestors are punished with prison and violence. The gay parade was banned for 100 years. Recently, 18 people were arrested for protesting against concentration camps for homosexuals in Chechnya, and the government censored the “Gay Putin” meme. Given all this, the LGBTQ population around the world needed to protest.
Campaign Description:
We invited the LGBTQ community to post photos of themselves kissing, set the photos’ location at the Kremlin in Moscow, and use the hashtag #kiss4LGBTQrights. A new way to use Instagram’s “Add Location” tool that allowed the LGBTQ population to protest in a place where they are prohibited from doing so.
Outcome:
Despite the low budget, the idea spread quickly, and thousands of people from 68 different countries participated in the protest. Overall, the photos impacted more than 58 million people on Instagram. News of the global kiss-in also spread throughout various media outlets, totaling more than US$ 13.2 million dollars in spontaneous media. The campaign even caught United Nation’s attention, in a speech about LGBTQ rights by Marcus Vinicius Ribeiro, principal for the Americas at Prisa. This was more than just a timely action, it also created a new tool for cyber-activism. Now, any cause, anywhere in the world, can use Instagram to protest safely, even where freedom of expression is restricted.
Strategy:
We took advantage of an existing Instagram feature — the “Add Location” tool —and used it as a new media to hold virtual protests in places where such protests are prohibited, all without putting people at risk. The ease of participation and appeal of the problem engaged the public to participate en masse in this action. Despite homophobia in Russia being a local problem, the LGBTQ population should act globally to make sure that what is happening in Russia does not spread to other countries. As such, Instagram and its 700 million monthly users around the world were essential to our action.