Pride Copenhagen and Worth Your While relaunched an Instagram filter which turns football pitches into rainbow flags in response to FIFA’s sanctions against the #OneLove captains’ armband initiative at Qatar 2022.
When the skippers of seven European sides announced a plan to wear OneLove armbands at the 2022 FIFA Men’s World Cup in a stand against homophobia in the host country, FIFA – under pressure from conservative movements and the host nation – responded by threatening to issue yellow cards to any player wearing it during the tournament. This led to a wave of protests campaigns from players, fans and marketers.
Motivated by a passionate shared belief that LGBTQ+ rights are also human rights and challenged to get the famous rainbow colours onto the pitch without falling foul of FIFA’s rules, Copenhagen Pride and agency Worth Your While re-launched their 2021 Euro campaign ‘Proud Pitch’.
Proud Pitch is an initiative built around a bespoke Instagram filter which can turn every football pitch (or TV screen) at the 2022 FIFA Men’s World Cup into a rainbow flag and thus into a symbol of support for the LGBTQ+ community.
On 29 November ‘ProudPitch’ relaunched with a campaign spearheaded by a hero spot and additional social and PR strands which outlined the initiative’s mechanic.
People were asked to:
1. Search for ‘Proud Pitch’ in the Instagram filter gallery
2. Point your phone towards your TV or the pitch
3. Use two fingers to place the rainbow colours over the pitch
4. Record and share your Instagram story with the world using the hashtag
#lovealwayswins
Using Instagram’s Spark AR platform, the initiative uses live tracking technology to create a mask that removes all green colours and replaces them with a rainbow flag. This enables fans to simply place the rainbow flag on the field, film a sequence from a game and the filter does the rest and automatically by masking out the players so they are running around on a rainbow pitch.
“Human rights are not politics,” commented Copenhagen Pride Spokesperson Lars Henriksen. “There are two positions: Either all people have the right to rights – or the opposite. And if you stand in opposition, you are on the wrong side of history.”
Worth Your While Executive Creative Director Lukas Lund added: “The ‘Proud Pitch is a great example of a long idea that lives beyond a traditional campaign cycle. Even though we originally conceived this for The Euros, it has gained an even greater relevance with what’s unfolding right now – and is an enduring tool that can be used to raise a flag about the current situation.”
The campaign was created by a team at agency Worth Your While which included Chief Executive Officer Morten Ingemann, Executive Creative Director Lukas Lund, Design Director Carl Angelo, Creative Director Martin Nørgaard Furze, Creative Director Martin Ginsborg, Creative Director Tim Pashen, Technologist Oliver Gormsen, Creative Alexandar Winge Leisner, Account Lead Sofia Brockenhuus-Schack and Account Director Brian Schøler.
Comment
This is a fine example of an opportunistic, low latency responsive marketing campaign revival.
The original Pride Pitch project followed UEFA’s rejection of the lighting the The Allianz Arena stadium in Munich in rainbow colours: an act that motivated Danish LGTBQ+ organisation Copenhagen Pride to raise a flag for diversity by launching a protest Instagram filter that turned the green grass into a rainbow pitch.
The filter first went live durin g the Euros quarter finals and fans were encouraged to find it in the Instagram filter gallery by searching for PROUD PITCH or through Copenhagen Pride’s profile.
ProudPitch from worthyourwhile.agency on Vimeo.
FIFA and Qatar’s decision to ban the armbands promoted multiple protests around the world from players, fans and marketers: from the German team covering their mouths in protest at being silenced for the official team photograph ahead of their opening World Cup match against Japan, to a rainbow flag waving pitch invasion during the game between Portugal and Uruguay, to Serviceplan and COGAM’s #LOVEWINSQATAR and Deloitte Digital and Twitterperlen teamed up for #OneLove.
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