Action is A Great Idea

How One Care and Community Brand Agency Is Changing the World, One Partner at a Time

WORDS BY AXEL MOLA

TWO TEENS STEP UP TO THE LARGE BANNER. ONE TURNS TO THE OTHER POINTING AT THE TERM "QUEER" AND SAYS, “THAT’S ME.”

Durham, located in central North Carolina, celebrates LGBTQ+ Pride in September, and thousands migrate from the parade to the various tables from churches, shops, and groups. A Great Idea’s booth invites selfies with the banner of speech bubbles filled with words like “gay,” “lesbian,” “transgender,” and “non-binary.” The two youth pull out their phone and snap a selfie.

The booth is just one part of a multimedia campaign called “Every Day Say Gay” from A Great Idea (AGI), a care and community brand communications firm to support North Carolina’s Genders and Sexualities Alliance (GSA) Network, which unites and advocates for clubs and programs for LGBTQ+ youth and allies in schools and universities.

“Every Day Say Gay” is AGI’s 2022 Pride initiative aiming to use civic engagement to prevent and push back against recent hostile attempts to legislate against the rights and visibility of LGBTQ+ people such as Florida’s vitriolic Don’t Say ‘Gay’ Bill or numerous transphobic state laws being considered or implemented.

For the past several years, AGI has also been amplifying the Out.Vote initiative to “inspire voters to encourage others to make their vote count through social sharing.

WE BELIEVE THAT EVERYONE DESERVES TO FEEL SEEN, RESPECTED, AND VALUED.

“Action is at the heart of what we do,” says Shane Lukas, AGI owner and Creative Strategist. “Every day, our client partners trust us to connect with brand advocates with these same tools—strategy, design, and development—to advance a more just and equitable world. This year, we wanted to partner with the NC GSA Network to make sure young people feel seen and heard, encouraging every citizen to speak out, vote, and take action. We believe that everyone deserves to feel seen, respected, and valued. ”

AN IMPACT-MINDED APPROACH

“AGI is built from activism,” says Lukas. “I started as a queer teenager in the Midwest, and for my entire life, I have been pushing hard for people to tackle difficult discussions, to imagine what liberation looks like, to invest in what it means to work with communities to advance equity and justice. That world is possible, and I’m proud to collaborate with each of our partners that are making it happen.”

Now in its eighth year, AGI’s roster of corporate and nonprofit partners is diverse—from healthcare leader Amida Care in New York City to San Francisco’s Eviction Defense Collaborative, from the global leadership network of Women of Color in Pharma (WOCIP) to Giving Docs’ innovative online planned giving platform. AGI provides support to these nonprofit, pharma, healthcare, and education partners in brand strategy (launch and evolution), content creation (digital and print), plus web application and site development.

“I’m proud that partners see value in our approach of encouraging shared growth, creative problem-solving, and authentic storytelling,” says Lukas. “With one partner, we saw a 220% growth in audience just through reframing their content.”

Partnership Power

AGI’s partnership philosophy, whether as a client or equity partner—such as the NC GSA Network or as a member of the National LGBT Chamber of Commerce—is that real change is possible through encouraging people to move from bystanders to being advocates moved to take action.

“The advocates we connect with are also partners,” Lukas says. “When each person recognizes the impact possible in their decisions today and tomorrow, then I believe we are seeing the world change for the better, one partner at a time.”

As the two teens walk away from the booth, carrying an “Every Day Say Gay” postcard that they promise to send to their legislator, a new group arrives to the photo booth, grabs a placard saying “Everyone should be free to share who they are and be heard”, and poses for their own selfie, with one person saying “That sounds like me.”

Learn more about the AGI’s Every Day Say ‘Gay’ project at everydaysaygay.com

3 Great Tips To Building Brand Advocates

A Great Idea’s Brand Ideation workshops bring together leaders and stakeholders to identify and roadmap their organization’s story—launch or evolution—in order to build brand advocates.

AGI’s Owner and Creative Strategist shared these tips for thinking about your own:

IDENTIFY, PRIORITIZE, AND CENTER YOUR VALUES.“Consumers and donors know their attention and consumption is a reflection of themselves. To connect, you have to know what you stand for so they do too.”

STAND OUT.“The brand story needs to be yours. The energy many folks spend watering down their story to have the broadest appeal looks shallow to new audiences and doesn’t build allegiance.”

BE AUTHENTIC.“Brands have less and less control of their story. Make yours honest so its hard to run a counter-narrative.”