Rainbow as a Marketing Tool?

Do you remember the beautiful days of childhood, when we used to look up at the rainbow and imagine something magical from Disney movies like unicorns and fairies? Or do you remember the first time you were taught the Scientific reason for the phenomenon of rainbows?

As time passed away, the connotation associated with the rainbows have changed completely and Rainbows now, popularly depict the Pride flag for the LGBTQ+ communities representing, a spectrum of sexual identities.

The untold story behind the creation of rainbow flag dates back to 1978, when Gilbert Baker, the Vietnam War veteran and then-drag performer, symbolized the rainbow with the LGBTQ+ community. Each colour in the rainbow flag represents a value in the community.

As the Creator rightly said and we quote:

“What I Liked about the rainbows is that

It fits all of us.

It’s all the colors.

It represents all the genders.

It represents all the races.

It’s the rainbow of humanity.”

With a global ambition of uplifting the stereotyped gender roles and an acceptance for their diverse sexual orientation from the society, the community has received tremendous support from the leading brands in the world.

Celebrating Pride with Brands

Brands around the world are applying the strategy of cause marketing to support and honor the community.

It’s a well-known fact, that “If your brand stands for a cause, your customers will automatically turn towards you.” The main objective of Cause-Marketing is to spread awareness in the society and boost sales of a company.

So, let’s have a look at how some brands have used this strategy and used the rainbow as a marketing tool to create awareness as well as earn profits.

PUMA - #FromPumaWithLove

With the mantra of “forever faster”, Puma is always innovating unique ideas for their products, in order to be the Fastest Sports Brand in the world. 

In the Pride Month, with the message of love for the socially marginalized LGBTQ+ community, Puma decided to celebrate the community’s pride alongside their ambassador and LGBTQ+ activist Cara Delevingne, who endorsed the collection “From Puma with Love”, comprising of 13 pieces of active wear in pride colors.

Puma also donated 20% of the profit from the collection, with a maximum donation of $2,50,000 to the Cara Delevingne Foundation, which will then distribute it to LGBTQIA+ charities including GLAAD, The Trevor Project, and Mind Out.

MARC JACOBS- #GratefulNotHateful

After having many feathers adorning his professional designer cap, the globally renowned and an influential gay fashion designer, Marc Jacobs decided to quit his job as a creative director in the French design house Louis Vuitton and after taking this big step, he made his name as a luxurious label in the fashion industry.

His Label has always supported the marginalised groups by blending inclusivity in fashion to express diverse identities. With the #GratefulNotHateful campaign, Marc Jacobs beauty honored the members of the LGBTQ+ community with their latest campaign “Enamored (with pride)”.They launched five new shades of its Enamored Hydrating Lip Gloss Stick in a rainbow-colored packaging and announced donations to two organisations, one in the US and one in France, to support the community.

NIKE - #BeTrue

Do you know Nike takes its name from the Greek Goddess of Victory?

From the past 56 years, The American Multinational Corporation “NIKE”, has always kept us active and fit with their high-quality innovative sportswear while also inspiring athletes around the world. The brand is not only the largest supplier of athletic shoes and apparel but it’s also a major distributor of sports equipment’s around the globe.

To showcase their support to the LGBTQ+ community, NIKE have also joined the “cause marketing club”. Continuing their annual tradition of celebrating the pride month, Nike launched the BeTrue campaign which pays special tribute to the athletes, who are using their voices, to uplift the LGBTQ+ community. The collection was first introduced in 2012 globally and the recently launched in June, NIKE’S first BeTrue AIR FORCE 1 shoes now includes black and brown stripes in the rainbow in order to recognize people of colour in the community. A portion of the earnings generated with this campaign is donated every year after the pride month and this year $ 50,000 were donated to the LGBTQ+ organisations.

Levi’s - #ProudToBeMore

With its deep roots in the market since the last 167 years, Levi’s is not just any other clothing brand. It has faced many

revolutions in the economies of the world and yet it stands tall by delivering the same old high-quality products to its customers.

What initially started as a denim brand has now evolved into a globally popular clothing company.

Just like the many brands during the pride month, Levi’s didn’t forget to empower the LGBTQ+ community and change perceptions in the society.

They launched a campaign #ProudToBeMore in the month of novembor,2019 and released their first Pride collection and have been doing the same every year. The bizarre part of the campaign is that Levi’s have pledged to donate 100 percent of the proceeds from the collection to LGBTQIA+ human rights organisation.

UGG - #UGGPride

With the aim of providing a comfortable lifestyle to their customers, the American footwear brand UGG consistently innovate products that acts as a symbol for those who Embrace the casual, relaxed and active lifestyle.

But surprisingly, UGGs have acted as a Classic fashion statement for men as well as women since the onset of 20^th Century.

Commemorating pride month, UGGs launched their Unisexual Pride collection and also collaborated with the American non-profit organization GLAAD (Gay lesbian Alliance Against Defamation), in order to honour pride love and also donated $125000 to GLAAD.With the world stricken with a pandemic, UGGs launched a pair of cozy slippers and fluffy sandals in pride inspired colours to complete our quarantine uniform and pay a tribute to the LGBTQ+ community. 

The Senior Director of GLAAD said “With both its 'PROUD Prom' and colourful, all-gender Pride collection, UGG is stepping up and finding unique and creative ways for LGBTQ people, especially LGBTQ youth, to showcase their pride in June and also helping to support GLAAD's work in training the next generation of storytellers, activists, and change makers who will help to move hearts and minds

CONCLUSION

What all these campaigns have in common is a unique as well as a considered approach forming a solidarity to uplift the queer community. Prides around the world are only getting bigger and larger number of corporates are getting involved to get this issue the hype it needs, keeping in mind that these newcomers remember the importance of pride, and who, in the end, it is for. Socially responsible companies gather more attention towards something that has an impact on the society and that resonates with their beliefs. They aim at giving something back to the society that they reside in.

Coming back to Pride, which has been fashionable in the retail marketing calendar for long now, one should always remember that appealing to the pink pound must not be a case of being sold to the highest bidder or confusing solidarity with the social justice agenda. It takes a lot more than a rainbow flag to elicit change.

- Mani Kashyap, Arshiya Khandelwal, and Manu Agnihotri