Marriott and Allstate Celebrate Inclusion with #LoveTravels and #OutHoldingHands Campaigns
As a Toronto call centre, we were honoured that our great city was host to the first World Pride event to take place in North America last month. Inclusion and diversity are CSR business values we hold dear and we joined in the Pride celebrations by featuring a series of LGBT-positive posts like Toronto #WorldPride Month Kicks off with #ProudToPlay, the 10 Most Gay Friendly Countries in the World, the 10 best cities for LGBT 20-Somethings and The It Got Better Docuseries looks at the other side of It Gets Better to inspire LGBT Youth. Though Pride Month is over here in Toronto, we are going to continue to celebrate its message by highlighting efforts being made by Marriott International and Allstate.
On June 2nd Marriott announced its #LoveTravels campaign to help celebrate pride month. The point of the “multicultural campaign [was to covey] the company’s commitment to make everyone feel comfortable being who they are, everywhere they travel.” To bring this idea to life they partnered with photographer Braden Summers on a photoshoot that centered around basketball player Jason Collins, model, advocate, and founder of Gender Proud Geena Rocero, as well as Marriott associate Talisha Padgett-Matthews.
#LoveTravels when you can be yourself — whoever you are and wherever you go.
The #LoveTravels portraits were displayed as “building wraps at five hotels in Washington, D.C., a series of print ads in LGBT media, an online portrait gallery and display ads in cities throughout the U.S.” The photos were also used for a social media campaign paired with the hashtag #LoveTravels. Additionally, Marriott was the Presidential sponsor of Washington’s Capital Pride parade (where the building wraps were located), and participated in Pride events in New York City and San Francisco.
Marriott has a long history of supporting the LGBT community because they remain “among [the] leading corporations earning a 100 percent perfect score on the HRC Corporate Equality Index as one of the Best Employers for LGBT People, and for several years, it also has been a supporting member of the National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce, committed to diverse suppliers including LGBT businesses.”
Insurance magnate Allstate started an online campaign on Twitter and Instagram with the hashtag #OutHoldingHands. They did this because they feel that “everyone deserves to feel comfortable showing affection out in public.” This campaign is a play on their logo of two hands, thus giving the message that they are supporting all clients regardless of sexual orientation.
The video ad is set to the music of out singer Eli Lieb’s “Safe in My Hands” and the animated video is an ode to tolerance and love. “We believe everyone should be treated with respect and without judgment no matter who they love” is the Allstate caption beneath the video, which concludes with a transition to a real-life gay couple.
Last year, Allstate ran a print ad campaign that featured photos of gay couples, with the tagline “Being visible should never leave you feeling vulnerable.” The video is part of the insurance company’s 2014 LGBT campaign, which includes an online photo gallery of real-life couples. To participate, add the hastag #OutHoldingHands to a Twitter or Instagram picture and you can watch the video below.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2d917437jd4[/youtube]
Messages of inclusion from companies of this size are far-reaching as they resonate with their large customer base. Though Pride month is over, the efforts of these companies deserve to be to highlighted as they are standing up for what is fair and just and what should be at the heart of all CSR business values.
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Miratel Solutions is a Toronto call centre, eBusiness, and letter shop mail house specializing in professional fundraising services including inbound telephone fundraising, outbound telephone fundraising, online fundraising, lottery fundraising services, donation processing and receipting and direct mail fundraising services. We are committed to our CSR business values in all our business decisions and advancing the missions of the nonprofits we proudly serve.
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