Starting with its famous 'GAYTMs' several years ago, ANZ, along with its agency TBWA, has always supported Sydney's annual Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras. This year, the duo has tried to spread a bit of the spirit of the two-week festival to parts of Australia where acceptance may not be as easy to come by as it is in the big city.
Because the festival's climactic parade takes place on Oxford Street, ANZ and TBWA/Melbourne, along with Revolver/Will O'Rourke, identified other Oxford streets (or roads) across the country, and created for them fabulously rainbowish, equality-themed street signs. Ad Nut is partial to the entwined sailor flamingos.
At Bondi Beach in Sydney, there's a 6-meter-tall 'Signs of love' sculpture that points to all the 123 Oxford streets (or roads) that ANZ identified around the country.
Thrive PR and PHD are the PR and media agencies on the campaign, respectively.
ANZ says that Google got in on the effort so the signs would be visible to the world on Google Street View. The locations are listed below, but Ad Nut wasn't able to see the signs on Google Maps (Ad Nut is checking with TBWA about this).
- Mittagong, NSW – ‘Eternal Flame’, Oxford St & Bourne Cl.
- Deep Lead, Vic – ‘Coming Out’, Oxford St & Battery Rd.
- Rockhampton, Qld – ‘Pink FlaminGo-Go’, Oxford St & Talford Street.
- East Launceston, Tas – ‘Love is Love’ Oxford St & Abbott St.
- Bunbury, WA – ‘I’m Spinning Around’ Oxford St & Austral Pde.
- Port Pirie, SA – ‘Turn the Party’, Port Pirie Regional Tourism and Arts Centre.
- Berry Springs, NT – ‘We’re Not in Sydney Toto’ Oxford Rd & Cox Peninsula Rd.
Overall, this is an excellent gesture toward inclusion. And if actions like this help even one person who feels isolated and desperate, then they're well worth the effort.
Sadly, this happened:
Over the weekend several of our beautiful Oxford St installations were damaged. While this breaks our hearts, it will not break our spirits ahead of the @sydneymardigras. We know more needs to be done for LGBTIQ+ inclusion & we’re pleased to see the community lend a helping hand. pic.twitter.com/91PnJb9dGY
— ANZ Australia (@ANZ_AU) February 25, 2019
The struggle continues.
Update, 28 February: TBWA sent through links to see the signs on Google Maps:
- Oxford St, Deep Lead, VIC
- Oxford St, Allenstown QLD
- Oxford St, East Launceston TAS
- Oxford Rd, Berry Springs NT
- Oxford St, Port Pirie, SA
- Oxford St, East Bunbury, WA
- Oxford St Mittagong, NSW
- Bondi Park, Bondi NSW
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