Imagine living in a world where you don’t exist; where you never see yourself reflected on TV; and never see yourself represented in commercials as people practice daily routines, like washing their hands or starting a load of laundry.

This has been the reality for the LGBTQ+ community for decades – making them feel ostracised and invisible. As a result, in America, while approximately 9MM people identify as LGBT+, nearly half (42%) say their community is not accepting of them.

As one of the world’s largest advertisers, P&G is trying to change these attitudes and make the world a better place. In recent years, this has included creating documentaries about LGBTQ+ struggles in the workplace (Words Matter), and the fight for equal rights in the 1990s (Out of the Shadows).

Now, P&G felt it was time to highlight the LGBTQ+ community’s complex struggle for representation in the media and advertising.

To help P&G tell this story, we produced They Will See You, a first-of-its-kind look at the history of LGBTQ+ images in P&G advertising, from coded ads from the early 1900s to the out and proud ads of today.

In the film, we spoke with GLAAD (a pro-rights media organization), LGBTQ+ consumers, and members of the Trans Chorus of Los Angeles, to discuss three things: why representation in advertising and media matters; the impact that inclusion can have on local communities; and how global brands can increase the visibility of marginalized people everywhere.

We also told stories of misrepresentation from the LGBTQ+ community, including those from people of different generations and backgrounds in P&G's home state of Ohio.

All stories shared a common theme: that visibility is vital and can change hearts and minds.

A 2020 study by the Geena Davis Institute found only 1.8% of creative work submitted to Cannes in 2019 included LGBTQ+ representation. The team wanted to highlight the impact representation can have to help build greater advocacy for accurate and authentic portrayal of LGBTQ+ individuals in advertising.

To bring the story to life, the team focused on hearing from different people with different lived experiences. By bringing the human element to life, the film was able to move beyond the voices of activists to those people in our own communities most impacted by the images and commercials they see.

Further, this human link in the film created a connection between the 94% of consumers who want brands to support causes and the 91% who feel more positive towards brands that support causes – coupled with a targeted media strategy focused on LGBTQ+ consumers and allies supportive of LGBTQ+ causes.

To maximize distribution, we hosted They Will See You on CNN’s Great Big Story content platform and YouTube. We created trailers of the film that lived in preroll and ad units and ran across the CNN.com ecosystem

We launched with an invite-only virtual ‘premiere’, hosted by CNN anchor Kate Bolduan, P&G Chief Brand Officer Marc Pritchard, P&G Global LGBTQ+ Equality Program Leader Brent Miller, and GLAAD President & CEO Sarah Kate Ellis.

We targeted LGBTQ+ communities and supporters on Facebook and YouTube, and also targeted them with P&G’s previous LGBTQ+ films, Words Matter and Out of the Shadows (OOTS).

They Will See You was watched 1.8MM times.

Completion rate on YouTube was 45% – above the platform average of 25% .

Facebook engagement rate hit 0.79%– above the platform average of 0.18%.

Successfully targeting LGBTQ+ supporters and activists, viewers were 337% more likely to be interested in Social Justice and 145% more likely to be interested in Gay Pride than average Facebook users.

64% of video comments were positive – helping us spread messages of love and encouragement to the LGBTQ+ community.

For P&G, They Will See You elicited lifts in all key brand metrics including:

• +13% in Brand Favorability.

• +10% in Purchase Intent.

• 82% Positive Sentiment for the brand – +9% higher than research norms.