Advertisers have a responsibility to help protect and authentically represent the LGBTQIA+ community. This is why CAN is proud to have partnered with Outvertising to create and launch The Outvertising Advocacy Playbook.
We’re delighted to introduce this new resource to help advertisers and agencies adjust their approach to future campaigns to support, represent, and reach the LGBTQIA+ community.
Why now?
The LGBTQIA+ market is worth over:
£33 billion in the UK
$1 trillion in the US
$3.7 trillion globally
According to Kantar and Forbes.
EDI work is associated with higher long-term market performance, and has a consistent positive relationship with higher innovation according to WARC.
In the decade since marriage equality was achieved, the UK has fallen from #1 to #16 in the ILGA Europe ranking of countries by legal and political justice for LGBTQIA+ people. It’s more important than ever that advertisers and agencies start to think seriously about how they approach inclusion within their organisations and ads.
“All of us at CAN are delighted to finally be able to share The Advocacy Playbook – a game-changing resource to help advertisers and agencies transform how they approach LGBTQIA+ inclusion. Over the past year, we’ve worked closely with Outvertising to create this comprehensive guide, charged with actionable steps and key takeaways for both advertisers and agencies to help make UK marketing and advertising fully inclusive. With a spending power of $3.7 trillion globally, it’s important advertisers reach and represent the community in the best way. We firmly believe that starting now and being open to change is essential to building lasting LGBTQIA+ equity in our industry.”
Harriet Kingaby, Co-Founder, Conscious Advertising Network
How to start LGBTQIA+ Inclusive Advertising
Real progress takes time, and perfection can’t be expected overnight. This is why The Playbook has been designed to offer step-by-step guidance along with informed data and principles.
To start with, look at LGBTQIA+ equity within your organisation, this includes ensuring:
✔️ Your LGBTQIA+ colleagues are supported
✔️ All policies and processes are fully inclusive of LGBTQIA+ people
✔️ Employees become more consciously inclusive with training and resources
✔️ A shadow board and dedicated EDI taskforce are established
✔️ You actively advocate your inclusive values with your partners, peers, clients and competitors
✔️ Organisation leaders actively champion inclusion activities and publicly support high-profile LGBTQIA+ rights issues
Building LGBTQIA+ inclusion in-house first will stand you in good stead for developing genuine inclusion in your advertising campaigns
About Outvertising
Outvertising is a volunteer-run platform that exists to make UK advertising and marketing completely LGBTQIA+ inclusive. Initiatives include the industry’s leading LGBTQIA+ mentorship programme, a calendar of social events, as well as inclusion training and guidance for brands, agencies and leaders. Existing alongside these resources is the Outvertising community — a network for LGBTQIA+ professionals and allies working in the industry.
“We need to take explicit action now to ensure LGBTQIA+ inclusion isn’t just a buzzword but a systemic part of how we work within the UK advertising industry. The Advocacy Playbook is central to our commitment to building hate-free advertising supply chains by providing advertisers and agencies with clear, actionable steps to make the change we’ve been advocating for. It’s not just about better representation in ads, it’s about reshaping how we think about inclusion at every level of the advertising ecosystem. Only when we’ve all committed to making real, practical changes, will we truly be able to say that there is an inclusive future for adland on the horizon.”
Cassius Naylor, Co-Director of Advocacy, Outvertising
Final thoughts from CAN
The Playbook is an essential resource for agencies and advertisers in the UK. It’s been a pleasure working alongside Outvertising to create such an important piece that we know can make a real difference within the industry. What we need now is for advertisers to absorb the information and implement the changes.
