Ssex Bbox: Kiss the Kremlin [spanish]

Credits & Description:

Category: Public Interest, NGO
Media: Digital
Brand: Ssex Bbox
Agency: DDB
Geo: Brazil
Advertising Agency: DM9DDB, São Paulo, Brazil
Creative Chairman: Nizan Guanaes
Chief Creative Officer: Arício Fortes
Interactive Chief Creative Officer: Eduardo Battiston
Executive Creative Director: Paulo Coelho
Creative Directors: Adriano Alarcon, Carlos Schleder, Gonzalo Ricca
Art Director: Leandro Vilas Boas
Copywriter: Hélio Maffia
Motion Designer: Leonardo Nichida
Producers: Pedro Bueno, Rodrigo Luchini
VP of Client Services: Marcelo Passos
Agency PR: Andrea Nascimento
Social Media PR: Thaís Chaves
Operations Director: Luciana Leal
Convergence Director: Joca Guanaes
PR: Paula Bezerra de Mello / Ello Agency
Client Approval: Júlia Rosember, Priscilla Bertucci
Additional Credits: Panela Sound Studio
Description:
We held an LGBTQ protest in a place it could never be held: at the Kremlin Palace, in Moscow.
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.