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June 29, 2015

Brands Get In On The Pride: #LoveWins

6.30

SCOTUS’s decision to legalize same-sex marriage nationwide the day before the weekend Pride parades ignited a rainbow-fueled social media celebration.

Facebook profile photos were newly adorned with a superimposed rainbow flag, Snapchat’s live Snap Story continually evolved with user submitted content of the festivities, and #lovewins became the top trending hashtag with over 5 million twitter mentions by Friday night.

Not to be left out of the party, consumer-facing brands quickly stepped up to show their support for the ruling and the LGBT community. Brands like Jello and Skittles have products that were a natural fit for a #lovewins campaign, but even the less colorful Google and Cheerios found ways to convey “Love is Love” messaging.

Using branded content to take an advocacy stance is another example of how social media is used to tell a company’s brand story.  #Lovewins was not meant to advertise a product, but companies used it to advertise their values, and connect to their customers with relevant, real-time content that spoke to the user’s emotions.  The product became secondary to the desire to align the brand with a community and a historic victory.

It’s been an exciting weekend, and as more hard-hitting issues are discussed in our upcoming presidential election, it will be interesting to see how consumer brands continue to participate in the political conversation. Stay tuned tomorrow, when we’ll post our favorite brand responses!

(Photo: Let Freedom Ring, by flickr user Robert Couse-Baker via Attribution 2.0 License)